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 JANUARY 1
General Studies-01
30 lakh reapply for inclusion in Assam NRC
News: About 30 lakh of the 40.07 lakh people left out of the final draft of the updated National
Register of Citizens (NRC) published five months ago have applied again for inclusion during the
claims and objections round.

Beyond News

 During the phase, 600 objections also came in from those who doubted the citizenship of others
included in the draft.
 The window for 40.07 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants excluded from the complete draft was
opened on September 25. It was to have closed on December 15, but the Supreme Court, which is
monitoring the exercise, extended the last day to
December 31 after the Assam government said the
panchayat election, held on December 5 and 9, had
robbed the people and officials of precious time.
 NRC officials said the pace of submission of claims
had picked up in the last fortnight.
 There have been cases in which illiterate people,
dependent on NRC Seva Kendras or cybercafe
operators, used the same legacy person as others
genealogically linked to someone else. While some
cases were fraudulent, many were cases of the
legacy person having the same name or belonging to the same area.
 A legacy person is one who figures in the NRC of 1951, which is being updated, the voters lists
published up to March 24, 1971, and other documents, including refugee registration certificate.
 The deadline for completing the exercise after processing the claims and objections is June 2019.
The service centres, officials said, would be open from January 2 to 31 for correction of the
names published in the complete draft.

ASI declared 6 monuments of national importance in 2018

News: The 125-year-old Old High Court Building in Nagpur, Maharashtra, and two Mughal-era
monuments in Agra Haveli of Agha Khan and Hathi Khana are among the six monuments declared
protected and of national importance by the Archaeological
Survey of India (ASI) in 2018.

Beyond News

 In 2016 and 2017, no new monument was included in the list

of sites of national importance.
 The last monument to be included in the list, in 2015, was the Vishnu Temple in Nadavayal in
Kerala‘s Wayanad district.
 Ancient Monument means any structure, erection or monument, or any tumulus or place of
interment, or any cave, rock-sculpture, inscription or monolith which is of historical,
archaeological or artistic interest and which has been in existence for not less than 100 years.
 There were 3,686 centrally protected monuments/sites under the ASI in the country; the number
has now increased to 3,693. Uttar Pradesh (745 monuments/sites), Karnataka (506) and Tamil
Nadu (413) have the highest number of ASI-maintained sites.
 According to information available with the Ministry of Culture, 321 of these sites have been
encroached upon.

General Studies-02
LS passes medical council Bill
News: The Lok Sabha passed the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Bill to allow a panel of
eminent professionals to run the scam-tainted Medical Council of India (MCI) so that medical
education can be regulated in the best manner.

Beyond News

 The Bill seeks to replace an ordinance issued in September 2018.

 This Bill superseded the MCI and the powers of the council had been vested in a Board of
Governors (BoG). The BoG will have all eminent personalities and include directors of AIIMS
and PGI, Chandigarh. This board will continue to perform till a council is constituted, according
to Mr. Nadda.
 A separate Bill to replace the MCI with the National Medical Commission is pending in
Parliament.

Pakistan shares with India list of nuclear installations

News: Pakistan shared with India a list of its nuclear installations and facilities as per the
provisions of a bilateral agreement.

Beyond News

 The list was handed over in accordance with Article-II of the Agreement on Prohibition of
Attacks Against Nuclear Installations and Facilities between Pakistan and India, signed on
December 31, 1988, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement here.
 Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi handed over the list of Indian Nuclear Installations and
Facilities to a representative of the High Commission of Pakistan .
 The agreement, which was signed on December 31, 1988 and entered into force on January 27,
1991, provides, inter alia, that the two countries inform each other of nuclear installations and
facilities to be covered under the agreement on the first of January of every calendar year.

537 Indian prisoners lodged in Pakistani jails: Foreign Office

News: Pakistan shared with India a list of 537 Indian prisoners lodged in Pakistani jails as per
the provisions of a bilateral agreement.
Beyond News

 They include 54 civilians and 483 fishermen, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement here.
 The step was taken under the Consular Access Agreement of May 21, 2008 between Pakistan and
India, the FO said.
 According to the agreement, both countries are required to exchange lists of prisoners in each
other‘s custody twice a year.
 India will also share the list of Pakistani prisoners lodged in Indian jails with the High
Commission of Pakistan in New Delhi.
 The two countries have adhered to the practice of exchanging the list of prisoners despite
recurring tensions.
 It is one of the enduring Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) agreed upon when the two sides
were trying to disentangle the complex relationship with the help of the composite dialogue
process.
 Fishermen from Pakistan and India are frequently detained for illegally fishing in each other‘s
territorial waters since the Arabian Sea does not have a clearly defined marine border and the
wooden boats lack the technology to avoid being drifting away.

First-ever list of forward castes soon

News: The first-ever list of forward caste Hindus and Christians of the Kerala State will be out
shortly.

Beyond News

 There are 83 Hindu and 20 Christian castes on the draft list drawn up by the Kerala State
Commission for Economically Backward Classes among Forward Communities.
 The commission, which has placed the draft list within the public domain, is expected to finalise
it after January 20. The list is being prepared as part of the exercise to identify the economically
backward classes among the forward communities.
 Besides the 83 Hindu castes, there are 62 sub-castes, including 24 sub-castes of Nairs, on the list.
The 14 sub-castes of the Ambalavasi Hindus and six for the Kshatriya caste are there on the list.
From the Brahmin caste, 13 sub-castes have been identified by the commission.
 Christian communities numbering 20, including Chaldean Syrians, CSI, Evangelical, Basel
Mission, Pentecosts, Marthomites, Malankara Catholic, and Jacobites are there on the draft list.
 The commission will also fix an annual income ceiling, akin to the creamy layer fixed for Other
Backward Communities (OBC), as the benchmark for identifying the economically weaker
sections among the forward communities. Even while preparing the caste database of these
communities, the commission paid attention to the castes that were out of the ambit of the caste-
based reservation.
 Though the communities together constitute 27.73% of the State‘s population, no authentic data
on these castes and population are available. Earlier, two attempts for a headcount of these castes
were made at the national level. However, the Central government has not released the caste data
so far.
 At the same time, the data on Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs, which enjoy the
benefits of caste-based reservation, are readily available in the State.
  Interestingly, a few of the forward caste organisations have approached the commission with a
request not to classify them as forward or upper caste communities as they feared such
classifications would eventually deny them government aid.
 Instead, they preferred to be called communities which were out of the ambit of caste-based
reservation in the State.

General Studies-03
NASA spacecraft breaks record for smallest space object ever
orbited
News

 NASA‘s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft broke a record after successfully entering into orbit around
the asteroid Bennu the smallest cosmic object ever to be orbited by a spacecraft.

Beyond News

 While many on Earth prepared to welcome the New Year, NASA‘s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, 110
million kilometers away, carried out a single, eight-second burn of its thrusters, NASA said in a
statement.
 The manoeuvre placed the spacecraft into orbit around the asteroid
Bennu.
 Inching around the asteroid at a snail‘s pace, OSIRIS-REx‘s first
orbit marks a leap for humankind. Never before has a spacecraft
from Earth circled so close to such a small space object one with
barely enough gravity to keep a vehicle in a stable orbit.
 The spacecraft will circle Bennu about 1.75 kilometres from its centre, closer than any other
spacecraft has come to its celestial object of study.
 Previously the closest orbit of a planetary body was in May 2016, when the Rosetta spacecraft
orbited about seven kilometers from the center of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
 The comfortable distance is necessary to keep the spacecraft locked to Bennu, which has a gravity
force only 5-millionths as strong as Earth‘s. The spacecraft is scheduled to orbit Bennu through
mid-February at a leisurely 62 hours per orbit.

‘RBI reserves ratio among the highest’

News: Analysis of the balance sheets of the central banks of
10 comparable economies shows that the RBI‟s reserves as
a percentage of its balance sheet is among the highest.

Findings

 The bulk of these reserves are notional and thus their

value can only be unlocked when the underlying assets
are sold, the report added. This makes transferring the
excess reserves to the government all the more difficult.
  Finance Minister said that the government was not seeking the RBI‘s surplus to meet its fiscal
deficit needs.
 The analysis, which looked at the central banks of the BRICS countries, Fragile Five nations and
three developed economies, found that the RBI‘s reserves which a separate analysis shows was
about ₹10.5 lakh crore form 26.2% its balance sheet. Only two central banks those of South
Africa and Russia have a reserve ratio higher than this.
 The other two BRICS nations, China and Brazil, have reserve ratios of 1.7% and 0.2%,
respectively.
 These gains from the currency exchange movement will be booked and the cash realised only
when the assets are sold. As such, the RBI does not have very high free cash reserves that it can
give back to the government, the report concluded.
 The report goes on to say that the RBI has a few options in front of it if the government does
insist on the transfer of reserves. The first is for the central bank to sell its foreign bonds or
government bonds, depending on how much the Centre asks for.
 Selling foreign bonds is easier done, but comes with the concomitant risk of this being viewed
negatively by foreign investors as the RBI‘s remaining foreign exchange assets might not be
enough to handle the next financial crisis. The domestic market is not big or deep enough to
absorb such a large amount of government bonds.

January 2
General Studies-01
Reindeer population on the decline
News: Continued warming of the Arctic is driving broad changes in the environmental system and
decline of the reindeer population.

Importance

 Reindeer are important to the Arctic ecosystem as they are a source of food, clothing and
livelihood for local people. Massive herds of deer roam the tundra, shaping the vegetation of the
region by grazing. They are also a source of food for predators such as wolves.
 Over the past two decades, the population of reindeer has crashed by 56 per cent from about 4.7
million animals to 2.1 million.Population fall has been noted across the reindeer habitat.
 The report says that except two herds, which are at their at
historic peak numbers, other have declined.

Causes of Decline

 Causes of the decline are complex and related to a combination

of factors, says NOAA. They include hunting, disease,
diminished food availability and climate change.
 Longer, warmer summers mean more vegetation for them to
feed on, but they also mean a boom in disease-causing parasites.
 Heat stress also leads to increased susceptibility to pathogens. Warmer summers have also meant
that diseases, long locked in the Arctic permafrost, may thaw and spread among herds.
 Warmer days mean more insects plaguing the animals, who use more energy swatting and
shrugging off biting insects or trying to find insect-free pastures.
 An increase in rain can be a problem, too. Wet weather leaves behind a frozen layer on top of the
snow, making it harder for the animals to break through the ice to feed on lichen.

Assam most vulnerable to climate change in the Himalayan

range.
News: The Himalayan region supports about 20 percent of the worlds population. But the
ecologically fragile region, the storehouse of the third-highest amount of frozen water on Earth, is
highly vulnerable to climate change.

 Among the 12 states in the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR), Assam is found to be the most
vulnerable to the changing climate.

Findings

 The study, to help understand climate change vulnerabilities which could inform development of
adaptation strategies and ecosystem management for the Himalayan region.
 The assessment is significant for India as a majority of its population is dependent on agriculture
which requires water. The Himalayas are a source of many rivers which supply this water.
 Bordering eight countries, the Himalayan mountain range is the tallest in the world. It covers an
area of about 4.3 million square kilometres and nearly 1.5 billion people depend on it for water,
food and energy.
 In India, the IHR spans across 12 states Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand,
Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam and (hill
districts of) West Bengal.
 The vulnerability assessment was done on the basis of four major factors: Socio-economic,
demographic status and health, the sensitivity of agricultural production, forest-dependent
livelihoods and access to information services.

General Studies-02
China building ‘advanced’ warships for Pak.: report
News: China is building the first of four “most advanced” naval warships for Pakistan as part
of a major bilateral arms deal to ensure among other things ―balance of power” in the strategic
Indian Ocean.

Beyond News

 Equipped with modern detection and weapon systems, it will be capable of anti-ship, anti-
submarine and air-defence operations.
 The under-construction ship is a version of the Chinese Navy‘s most advanced guided missile
frigate.
 China, an ―all-weather ally‖ of Islamabad, is the largest supplier of weapon system to Pakistan.
Both countries also jointly manufacturing the JF-Thunder, a single engine multi-role combat
aircraft.
 Once constructed, the warship ―will be one of the largest and technologically advanced platforms
of the Pakistani Navy and strengthen the country‘s capability to respond to future challenges,
maintain peace and stability and the balance of power in the Indian Ocean region.‖

It will also support the Pakistani Navy‘s initiative of securing sea lanes for international shipping by
patrolling distant waters.

India records 377 mine deaths in three years

News: At a time when multiple agencies are involved in the rescue of 15 miners trapped in a
rathole mine in Meghalaya, data tabled in the Lok Sabha earlier this week revealed that 377
workers involved in mining of coal, minerals and oil were killed in accidents between 2015 and
2017.

Beyond News

 Coal mines have accounted for the highest

number of casualties due to accidents in mines.
Of the 377, more than half, 210, were killed in
coal mines.
 Jharkhand, which recorded 69 deaths (11 in
2015, 46 in 2016 and 12 in 2017) in the three
years, has accounted for the highest death of
coal mine workers in accidents inside mines.
Goda in Jharkhand witnessed one of the
biggest open cast mine accidents in 2016 when
23 workers died in December that year.
 Telangana recorded 32 deaths in these three years while Madhya Pradesh registered 29.
 During the period, 152 persons died in accidents in metal mines across the country. Rajasthan,
one of highest mineral producing States in the country, accounted for 48 deaths (20 in 2015, five
in 2016 and 23 in 2017) while Andhra Pradesh recorded 29 deaths. During this period, 15 deaths
were reported in oil mines, most of them occurring in Assam and Gujarat.

General Studies-03
Small changes in oxygen levels have big implications for ocean
life
News: Even slight levels of ocean oxygen loss, or deoxygenation, have big consequences for tiny
marine organisms called zooplankton.

Findings

 Zooplankton are important components of the food web in the expanse of deep, open ocean called
the midwater, said researchers.
 Within this slice of ocean below the surface and above the seafloor are oxygen minimum zones
(OMZs), large regions of very low oxygen.
 Unlike coastal ―dead zones‖ where oxygen levels can suddenly plummet and kill marine life not
acclimated to the conditions, zooplankton in OMZs are specially adapted to live where other
organisms especially predators cannot.
 However, OMZs are expanding due to climate change, and even slight changes to the low
oxygen levels can push zooplankton beyond their extraordinary physiological limits.
 Although the animals in the ocean‘s oxygen minimum zone have adapted over millions of years
to the very low oxygen of this extreme and widespread midwater habitat, they are living at the
very limits of their physiological capability.

Exotic trees eating up Western Ghat’s grasslands

News: Over four decades, the country lost almost one-fourth of these grasslands and exotic invasive
trees are primarily to blame, find scientists.

 Though grassland afforestation using pine, acacia and eucalyptus ceased in 1996, the exotics still
invade these ecosystems.

Beyond News

 The satellite images they accessed reveal that 60% of the

shola-grassland landscape has changed; almost 40% (516
km2) of native high-elevation grasslands have
disappeared.
 Most of this loss occurred on the mountain tops of the
Nilgiri, Palani and Anamalai hill ranges, which comprise
more than half of the Ghat‘s shola-grassland ecosystems,
primarily due to the expansion of exotic trees (pine, acacia
and eucalyptus).
 Even though no plantations were established between 2003 and 2017, invasion by existing trees
increased areas under exotic plantations by 27% in the Palanis and 17% in the Nilgiris. Broadly,
shola-grassland ecosystems in Tamil Nadu showed the highest rates of invasion.

January 3
General Studies-02

State takes serious note of AP’s white papers

News: The Telangana State government has taken a serious note of the
views articulated by the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh government relating
to bifurcation of assets, especially Schedule IX and X institutions
between the two States post bifurcation.
Beyond News

 The Andhra Pradesh government, in its series of white papers, said that the bifurcation of the
Schedule IX and X institutions was not completed because of the non-cooperation by the Centre
and the Telangana government.
 The white paper said the expert committee constituted on division of assets and liabilities of 85
institutions and the AP government had issued orders for division of assets, liabilities and
employees in respect of 41 institutions in line with the recommendations of the expert committee.
 The same was the case regarding the division of 142 State institutions that remained unsettled till
date due to non-cooperation from the Centre and the Telangana government.
 AP government was interpreting the definitions, like headquarters assets, given in the
Reorganisation Act in its favour. According to Section 75 of the Act, the governments are
mandated to continue to provide services of the institution located under their purview to the
other State.
 The Telangana government had expressed its willingness to resolve the issues amicably in a
manner that would not adversely affect the interests of Telangana and the same was
communicated to the Joint Parliamentary Committee.
 Views articulated in the white papers had been referred to the State Reorganisation wing and the
officials concerned are reported to have been asked to prepare a detailed note on the issue giving
clarity about the State‘s stand on the pending issues.

New panel to protect Assam’s heritage

News: The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a high-level committee for
implementation of Clause 6 of the Assam Accord which provides for constitutional, legislative and
administrative safeguards to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and
heritage of Assam.

Beyond News

 It also recommended reserving Assembly seats for indigenous communities in the State.
 After the Assam agitation of 1979-1985, the accord was signed on 15 August, 1985. Clause 6
envisaged that appropriate constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, shall be
provided to protect, preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage of
the Assamese people.
 The composition and terms of reference of the committee will be issued separately by the
Ministry of Home Affairs.
 The Cabinet also approved a number of measures to fulfil the outstanding issues related to the
Bodo community. The Bodo Accord was signed in 2003 which resulted in the establishment of a
Bodoland Territorial Council under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. However,
there have been representations from different organisations of Bodos to fulfil various
outstanding demands.
 A joint parliamentary committee on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 is expected to table its
report in Parliament paving the way to grant citizenship to six persecuted minorities, Hindus,
Jains, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians and Buddhists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who
came to India before 2014.
Morocco ranks high in climate action
News: Morocco has been named the second best performing country after Sweden in the Climate
Change Performance Index (CCPI).

Beyond News

 The North African country significantly increased the share of renewables over the past five years
and increased new renewable energy capacity.
 Sweden is in top position, followed by Morocco and Lithuania in the CCPI 2019.
 The bottom five in the list are Saudi Arabia, U.S., Iran, South Korea and Taiwan.
 With the connection of the world‘s largest solar plant to the grid, Morocco is on track for
achieving its target of 42% installed renewable energy capacities by 2020.

India reminds U.S. that it sends soldiers abroad only for UN

Peacekeeping Operations
News: India reminded the United States that it does not send soldiers abroad but for U.N.
Peacekeeping Operations.

 The statement from sources came hours after President

Donald Trump spoke mockingly about India‘s
development work in Afghanistan indicating that Delhi
should send soldiers to control the decades-long civil war
in the country.

Beyond News

 President Trump in his statement had referred to his

conversation with Prime Minister Narendra
Modi indicating that building of facilities like librariesdo not add to resolving the security crisis in
Afghanistan and sought regional cooperation involving India, Pakistan and Russia to resolve the
crisis in Kabul.
 Indian assistance to Afghanistan is part of a bilateral arrangement with the Government of
President Ashraf Ghani.
 This partnership is built on the specific needs and requirements worked out with the Government
of Afghanistan. It is aimed at the welfare of the people of Afghanistan and for a tangible
improvement in the lives of its people.

General Studies-03
Direct tax-GDP ratio in FY18 best in 10 years: Finance Ministry
News: The direct tax-to-GDP ratio of 5.98 per cent achieved during 2017-18 fiscal is the best in
the last 10 years.

Beyond News

 It was 5.57 per cent in 2016-17 and 5.47 per cent in 2015-16.
 The Ministry said the larger purpose of demonetisation was to move India from a tax non-
compliant society to a compliant society and the impact of note ban has been felt on collection of
personal income tax.
 It further said there is a growth of over 80 per cent in the number of returns filed in the last four
financial years from 3.79 crore in 2013-14 to 6.85 crore in 2017-18.
 The number of individuals filing return of income has also increased by about 65 per cent during
this period from 3.31 crore in 2013-14 to 5.44 crore in 2017-18.
 It also said there has been a continuous increase in the amount of income declared in the returns
filed by all categories of taxpayers over the last three assessment years (AYs).
 Growth rate for corporate income tax (CIT) and personal income tax (PIT) stood at 17.7 per cent
and 18.3 per cent, respectively.

U.K. Sinha to head RBI panel on MSME revival

News: The RBI has appointed an eight-member expert committee headed by former SEBI
chairman U.K. Sinha to comprehensively review and propose long-term solutions for revival of the
micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector.

Beyond News

 The committee will submit its report by the end of June 2019.
 Among the terms of references, the RBI said the panel would review the current institutional
framework in place to support the MSME sector, and examine the factors affecting the timely and
adequate availability of finance to the sector.
 The MSME sector has been facing stress due to the demonetisation exercise and implementation
of GST.
 The panel will also review existing MSME-focussed policies and their impact, and study the
global best practices with respect to MSMEs and recommend their adoption in India.

RBI ‘eyes’ solution to read denominations

News: In a bid to help the visually challenged, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is scouting for
a digital solution that can identify and read out the denomination of Indian currency notes to
users.

Beyond News

 Coming in the backdrop of issuance of new currency notes, the plan is aimed at developing or
authenticating a technology-based solution to achieve the task in a few seconds.
 The solution could be a device, software or a combination of both, to help not just the visually
challenged, but also those who cannot read in poor lighting, the source said.
 Following up on an announcement in June, the RBI recently called for an expression of interest
(EoI) from entities for a mechanism or device that can detect and read out the denomination. The
reason behind the RBI scouting for such solutions is because of the blurring of physical
dimensions of the notes that thus far served as the main differentiator.
 In other words, unlike in the past, the size of the note need not be indicative of denomination.
There are also certain Intaglio (raised) printing-based identification marks in currency notes of
₹100 and above. The RBI is ―sensitive to the challenges faced by visually challenged in
conducting their day-to-day business with Indian banknotes,‖ the statement in June said.
 As on March 31, 2018, about 102 billion pieces of banknotes were in circulation, having a value
of ₹18 trillion. This comprised ₹10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 2000 notes, including the new
series being issued since November 2016. The new ₹20 note is expected to be released soon.
 Apart from inviting EoIs, the RBI has formed a panel to go into different aspects, including
solutions in practice abroad, which include an app used in the U.S. and a credit card-sized
solution in a few other countries.

January 4
General Studies-02
China develops its own ‘Mother of All Bombs’: report
News: China has developed a massive bomb, said to be the country‟s answer to the US-built
„Mother of All Bombs‟, the most powerful non-nuclear weapon.

Beyond News

 China‘s defence industry giant NORINCO for the first time showcased the aerial bomb, the
country‘s largest non-nuclear bomb.
 It is dubbed as the Chinese version of the ―Mother of All Bombs‖ due to its huge destruction
potential that is claimed to be only second to nuclear weapons.
 The bomb was airdropped by an H-6K bomber and caused a gigantic explosion, showed a
promotional video released by China North Industries Group Corporation Limited (NORINCO) .
 This is the first time the new bomb‘s destructive powers have been shown in public.
 Last year, while waging war against militants in Afghanistan, the US military dropped a GBU-
43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) weapon, more commonly known as the ―Mother of
All Bombs,‖ on the Islamic State.
 Although China is using the same nickname for its bomb, said to weigh several tonnes, the
Chinese weapon is smaller and lighter than its American counterpart.
 It can be used to clear a landing zone for troops on helicopters to rappel down, in case the area is
covered by obstacles such as forests.
 To match the U.S. weapon, Russia developed the ―Father of All Bombs‖ which is both bigger and
thermobaric, meaning it uses gas to create a huge fireball rather than a shockwave.

Malaria cases drop significantly; deaths down to 54

News: Malaria cases reduced by three million in India in 2017 compared to 2016.

Beyond News

 The number of deaths came down to 54 in 2018 from 194 in 2017.

 World Malaria Report 2018, published by the WHO, has reported a significant drop in the
estimated malaria cases in India by three million fewer cases in 2017 as compared to 2016 which
is a decrease of 24%.
 Deaths due to Malaria as reported by the states have come down from 194 in 2017 to 54 in 2018
till September.
 This achievement is primarily due to intensified efforts, including improved surveillance, early
diagnosis and complete treatment, distribution of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs),
uninterrupted logistic supply and by strengthening of monitoring and supervision etc.

Child care homes don’t paint a rosy picture

News: A pan-India survey of childcare institutions (CCI) conducted by the Centre has highlighted
poor safety and security measures, inadequate monitoring of these facilities, and a lack of effort to
trace parents of missing children sent to these homes.

 The full report of the survey titled ‗Mapping and Review Exercise of Child Care Institutions‘,
conducted between December 2015 and March 2017, was recently made public by the Ministry of
Women and Child Development (MoWCD).

Findings

 Some of the findings of this exercise were shared last year before the Supreme Court, which took
suo motu cognisance of rampant child abuse at a shelter in Muzaffarpur in Bihar.
 The detailed report shows that only 46.7% of the total homes had adequate number of caregivers
per child and only 28.7% centres were able to
tend to inmates showing signs of hunger or
illness and 65.9% of homes were able to
actively supervise children under trauma.
 The report also says that the lack of
infrastructure facilities is ―glaring‖ and finds
that more than 1,000 homes did not have a
dormitory for children, raising questions
about sleeping arrangements made for them.
 The report finds that even though there are several mechanisms for monitoring, regular
inspections of these shelters were not being carried out.

General Studies-03
RBI scales down printing of ₹2,000 note to minimum: Finance
Ministry official
News: The printing of ₹2,000 banknote, introduced post-demonetisation in November 2016, has
been reduced to the “minimum‖ by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Beyond News

 Soon after the sudden decision to ban old ₹500/₹1,000 currency notes by the government, the RBI
had come out with the ₹2,000 currency note along with a new look ₹500 note as part of its
massive remonetisation exercise.
 The senior official said the RBI and the government from time to time decides on the quantum of
currency to be printed on the basis of money in circulation.
 When the ₹2,000 note was launched, it was decided that the printing would be ―scaled down‖
going forward, since the new high currency value note was meant for meeting the remonetisation
need.
 According to the RBI data, there were 3,285 million pieces of ₹2,000 notes in circulation at
March-end, 2017. A year after (on March 31, 2018), there was only a marginal increase in the
number at 3,363 million pieces.
 Of the total currency in circulation amounting to ₹18,037 billion at end-March 2018, ₹2,000 notes
accounted for 37.3%, down from 50.2% at end-March 2017.
 The old 500/1,000 banknotes that were scrapped in November 2016 accounted for around 86% of
the total currency in circulation at that time.

First close-ups of Ultima Thule reveal it resembles reddish

snowman: NASA
News: Ultima Thule, an icy celestial body, is aptly shaped like a giant snowman, NASA scientists
have announced.

 The first detailed images beamed back from the U.S. agency‘s New Horizons mission allowed
scientists to confidently determine the body was formed when two spheres, or ―lobes,‖ slowly
gravitated towards each other until they stuck
together a major scientific discovery.

Findings

 The New Horizons spacecraft flew past Ultima

Thule, which was discovered via telescope in
2014 and is the farthest and potentially oldest
cosmic body ever observed by a spacecraft.
 Before that flyby, the only image scientists had
was a blurry one showing Ultima Thule‘s oblong shape, resembling something like a bowling pin
or a peanut.
 Ultima Thule‘s surface reflects light about as much as ―garden variety dirt,‖ as the sun‘s rays are
1,600 times fainter there than on the earth. The body completes its own rotation in about 15 hours.
NASA dubbed the larger lobe Ultima, and the other, which is about three times smaller, Thule.
 Some 4.5 billion years ago a cloud of frozen pebbles began to join forces, gradually forming two
bodies Ultima and Thule.
 Slowing turning, they eventually touched at each other at what mission geology manager Jeff
Moore called an ―extremely slow speed‖ maybe just one to a few kilometres per hour.

China lands probe on far side of moon

News: A Chinese space probe touched down on the far side of the moon, China‘s space agency
said, hailing the event as a historic first and a major achievement for the country‘s space programme.

Beyond News

 The moon is tidally locked to Earth, rotating at the same rate as it orbits our planet, so most of the
far side or ―dark side‖ is never visible to us. Previous spacecraft have seen the far side, but none
has landed on it.
 The probe, which has a lander and a rover, touched down at a targeted area near the moon‘s south
pole in the Von Karman Crater.
 The tasks of the Chang‘e-4 include astronomical observation, surveying the moon‘s terrain, land
form and mineral make-up, and measuring the neutron radiation and neutral atoms to study the
environment of its far side.

Karnataka’s Kaiga power station sets new record of 962 days of

uninterrupted operation
News: Karnataka‟s Kaiga power station, which made the country proud by creating a world
record for the longest uninterrupted operation for 941 days, has set a new benchmark of 962
days of uninterrupted operation and has now been shut down for maintenance.

Beyond News

 Generating Station-1 (KGS-1) at Kaiga in Uttara Kannada was shut down on the last day of 2018
after 962 days of operation and will be commissioned again after the maintenance activities,
inspection and regulatory clearances.
 On December 10, KGS-1 had broken the earlier record of earlier record of 940 days(Hesham-2
unit 2) held by the United Kingdom.
 Subsequently since KGS-1 had continued its
operation as it had the necessary permission and it
completed 926 days before it was shut down on
December 31.
 Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), has
said that during its continuous operation of 962 days
KGS-1 had produced 5 billion units of electricity at a
plant load factor of 99.3%.
 Kaiga has four indigenously developed Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors of 220 MW each
fuelled by domestic fuel. Of them KGS-2 has been operating since the last 661 days.
 NPCIL has said in the release that the record uninterrupted operation of 962 days showed the pre-
eminence of NPCIL in the design, construction and operation of PHWRs.

Improved Light Combat Aircraft gets green light for production

News: Light Combat Aircraft „Tejas‟ quietly progressed towards manufacture in an enhanced,
battle standard format.

 A new ‗limited‘ clearance from military airworthiness certifier CEMILAC for the Indian fighter
green-lights its production in a superior lethal
version.

Beyond News

 Hindustan Aeronautics Limted (HAL), which is

mandated to produce the LCAs for the Indian Air
Force (IAF), aims to get the first aircraft out in late
2019 in the just-cleared standard.
 The LCA is being designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in
Bengaluru. The IAF has asked HAL to make 40 LCA aircraft. Of this, 20 will be in the advanced
‗FOC‘ (final operational clearance) format. Another 20 are in the earlier IOC (initial operational
clearance) version.
 The FOC tag signals that the novice LCA is fully equipped and fit for battle. It adds many
features over the IOC version, which Tejas achieved in December 2013. The IOC enabled the IAF
to start flying it and in getting acquainted with its competences. Until then, only test pilots and
ADA handled Tejas.
 Tejas was expected to be FOC-compliant much earlier, the last two deadlines being June-end and
December-end of 2018.
 The IAF has modified and upgraded its trainer requirement in its old package order of 40 LCA
aircraft.
 It has opted to have all eight trainers in the FOC mode, instead of four each in IOC and FOC
standards.

January 5
General Studies-02
Lok Sabha passes Bill to amend Aadhaar Act
News: The Lok Sabha passed a Bill to amend the Aadhaar Act and two related laws which will
allow individuals to offer voluntarily biometric ID as a means of identity verification for obtaining
services such as opening a bank account and getting a mobile phone connection.

Beyond News

 The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill proposes changes in the Aadhaar Act, Indian
Telegraph Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to comply with a Supreme Court
judgment pronounced last year, in which it upheld the constitutional validity of unique
identification project with certain restrictions and changes.
 The compulsory use of Aadhaar-based KYC for mobile connections and bank accounts had been
prohibited by the Supreme Court.
 The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill also gives a minor the option to opt out of the
12-digit identity scheme on attaining the age of 18.
 It provides for stiff penalties for violation of norms set for the use of Aadhaar and bans service
providers from storing core biometric information and Aadhaar number of individuals who
voluntarily offer it as a means of authentication.

Vijay Mallya declared as fugitive economic offender under new

law
News: The special court declared absconding accused liquor baron Vijay Mallya as fugitive
economic offender under the new law fugitive economic offender act.
Beyond News

 Mr Mallya is the first person to be declared a fugitive economic offender and the government
can now confiscate his properties.
 Enforcement Directorate (ED)had filed an application at the PMLA court to declare Mr. Mallya
a fugitive economic offender and sought orders to confiscate all his properties estimated to be
around ₹ 12,500 crore. On June 30, the PMLA court took cognizance of the application filed by
the agency.
 The ED has filed two separate complaints registered under PMLA for investigation of money
laundering against Mr Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines Limited and United Breweries Holdings
Limited and others.
 On November 19, 2016 and July 5, 2017, non bailable warrants were issued against him and on
April 21, 2018, the Act came into existence.
 Mr Mallya left the country on March 2, 2016 and on April 18, 2017, he was arrested by the UK
Metropolitan Police extradition unit.
 United Kingdom court issued orders that Mr Mallya should be extradited from Britain.

Illegal mining: NGT slaps ₹100 crore fine on Meghalaya

News: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposed a cost of ₹100 crore on
the Meghalaya government following a report submitted by an independent committee on mining
in the State.

Beyond News

 A Bench, directed the government to deposit the amount with the Central Pollution Control Board
(CPCB) within two months.
 The NGT directed that all the cranes present at the sites be seized. It also directed that the 2,700
trucks seized while carrying illegal coal to be released only after 50% value of a new truck is
paid.
 The fine has been imposed to act as a deterrent for the State to stop mining activities.
 The NGT was hearing multiple pleas pertaining to the threat to life arising out of coal mining.
 The tribunal maintained that the ―orders of ban on rat-hole mining will continue, subject to further
orders by the Supreme Court.‖
 The committee was directed to prepare a time-bound action plan pertaining to the restoration of
environment and rehabilitation of victims.

Telcos fined ₹58 lakh for call drops

News: Financial disincentives of about ₹58 lakh were
imposed on telecom companies, including Idea and
BSNL, for not complying with the benchmark to measure
drop call rate.

 These penalties were imposed during the six-month

period, from January 2018 to June 2018.
Beyond News

 As per the latest report of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for the quarter ending
September 2018., all telecom services providers are complying with drop call rate (DCR)
benchmarks despite rapid increase in traffic volume and more stringent benchmarks.
 Idea was fined a total of ₹10.5 lakh in the quarter ended March 2018 while the penalty on BSNL,
Tata and Telenor stood at ₹3 lakh, ₹22.5 lakh and ₹6 lakh, respectively.
 For the quarter ended June 2018, a fine of ₹12 lakh was imposed on Idea and ₹4 lakh on BSNL.
 In a separate reply, the Minister said to combat call drops, about 9.74 lakh additional base
transceiver stations (BTS) for 2G/3G/4G-LTE services had been added by service providers since
July 2015.
 This took the total BTS count in the country to about 20.07 lakh in November 2018. Additionally,
about 9.59 lakh 2G/3G cells have been rectified or optimised during July 2016 to October 2018.
 Also, to get direct feedback from subscribers, DoT has launched an interactive voice response
system wherein about 2.15 crore subscribers had been individually contacted since December
2016 of which 30.1 lakh subscribers had participated in the survey.
 The feedback is shared with the TSPs (telecom service providers) every week for taking
corrective actions in a time-bound manner. As a result, about 85,000 individual cases of call drops
have been resolved so far.

General Studies-03
RBI limits customer liability in fraudulent PPI transactions
News: The Reserve Bank of India has decided to limit the liability of customers in case of
unauthorised electronic payment transactions in Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) issued by non-
banks.

Beyond News

 Under new norms on customer liability, the regulator said

frauds due to third-party breach where neither the customer
nor the PPI issuer is at fault, there cannot be any liability for
the customer, in case the incident in reported within three
days.
 If the fraud is reported between three and seven days,
customer liability will amount to the transaction value or
₹10,000, whichever is lower.
 For over seven days, the liability of the customer will be
according to the board-approved policy of the PPI issuer.
 After the customer reports the fraud, the PPI issuer has to
credit the amount involved in the unauthorised transaction to
the customer‘s PPI within 10 days.
 The burden of proving customer liability in case of unauthorised electronic payment transactions
shall lie on the PPI issuer.
 There will be no liability to the customer if fraud is due to negligence or deficiency of the PPI
issuer, irrespective of whether or not the transaction is reported by the customer.
 In cases where the loss is due to negligence by a customer, such as where he / she has shared the
payment credentials, the customer will bear the entire loss until he / she reports the unauthorised
transaction to the PPI issuer. Any loss occurring after the reporting of the unauthorised transaction
shall be borne by the PPI issuer.

Tourists biggest polluters of beaches, finds survey

News: A study on plastics in seven beaches in the country, including two in Tamil Nadu, has found
that a large quantity of the waste was being brought in by tourists.

Findings

 The National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR) here found that fishing activity was the second
reason for the presence of non-degradable materials in beaches.
 In all, 71% of the waste found was plastic, 28% non-plastic and 1% was biomedical in nature.
The last being found mostly on urban beaches.
 Litter, including paper/plastic bags, balloons, beverage cans, cigarette stubs, food waste, paper,
food packaging, glass bottles, sharp metallic objects, clothing, toys, and alcohol bottles were
found on the beaches.
 On Elliot‘s Beach, 40% was due to tourist activity, 15% due to
fishing activity, 38% due to other activities and 7% of the garbage
found was biomedical waste. At Silver Beach in Cuddalore, 50% of
the trash was from tourism, 28% from fishing, 11% from
households and 6% was biomedical waste.
 Use of beaches for purposes other than walking or playing in the
sand or in the waters made the problem worse. Solid waste from
waterways too added to the garbage on the beaches.
 Lack of solid waste management facilities was a major issue at
several beaches, adding that clean-up programmes alone would not be enough to keep the sands
clean.
 A continuous information, education and communication programme for tourists, residents and
fisherfolk was a must to reduce plastic usage at beaches.
 Marine litter posed a major problem with aquatic animals ingesting microplastics. It also called
for a national marine litter policy that can control and manage garbage on land and prevent its
entry into the marine environment to maintain its pristine nature.

NGT stays notification on groundwater

News: Terming a notification issued by the Union Water Resources Ministry on the extraction of
groundwater, as ―unsustainable,‖ the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Centre to “not
give effect” to it as it had “serious shortcomings.”

Beyond News

 A Bench said, it is clear that rather than laying down stricter norms for extraction of groundwater
for commercial purposes and putting in place a robust institutional mechanism for surveillance
and monitoring, extraction of groundwater has been liberalised adding to the crisis, unmindful of
the ground situation and likely impact it will have on environment.
 Bench said, the so-called regulation is illusory. The so-called conditions are incapable of
meaningful monitoring as shown by past experience also. There is no check on injection of
pollutants in the groundwater in the impugned notification.
 Taking into account the Ministry‘s suggestion of levying a water conservation fee, it said,the fee
virtually gives licence to harness groundwater to any extent.
 The NGT directed the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to constitute a
committee to examine ―the issue of appropriate policy for conservation of groundwater‖.

January 6 & 7
General Studies-01
West Bengal tribals battling food scarcity: study
News: A survey report has identified ―food scarcity in varying degrees” in about 31% of tribal
households in West Bengal.

Findings

 The study titled ‗An Inquiry into the world of the Adivasis of West Bengal‘, was conducted in
1,000 tribal households to ascertain living conditions, health and education.
 West Bengal is home to a over five million tribals, with 6% of the India‘s tribal population of 100
million. But in many areas, tribals of the State are ―far behind‖ in terms of human development.
One area, which has been a matter of contention in recent months after the death of seven tribals
in a span of 15 days in November, is scarcity of food.
 The preliminary survey report claimed that ―nearly one third [31%] of the surveyed households‖
reportedly faced ―food scarcity in varying degrees‖ in the past year.
 Degradation of forest and environmental degradation are cited as two more reasons for ―reduced
availability of natural nutrients‖ resulting in early deaths.
 The report indicated that the number of deaths reported to have occurred in the surveyed
households, in the year preceding the survey, ―was 52, among which 48 [92%] were premature
deaths‖ and only four were due to old age.
 According to the Census of 2011, while WPR is 39% and 49% in Bengal and India, respectively,
―the corresponding figures for Adivasis were 49% and 47%,‖ indicating the participation of more
children.
 However, a higher rate of work participation has not contributed to a better living standard,
indicated the survey, which followed a ―mixed-method approach‖ combining quantitative and
qualitative data. In the area of health and education, too, tribal communities are far behind the rest
of State‘s population.
 Moreover, 44% of households do not have access to toilets and nearly two-thirds of the
households had no drainage system, the report noted.
 General Studies-02
Cabinet approves 10% reservation for economically backward,
beyond the 50% limit
News: The Union Cabinet approved a Constitution Amendment Bill to provide 10%
reservation to economically backward sections in the general category.

 The Bill will also cover those from the Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist and other minority
communities. The quota will be over and above
the existing 50% reservation to Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes
(OBC).

Beyond News

 The decision that comes ahead of the general

elections in April-May, was taken at a meeting.
 The specific details of the Bill were not available
as there was no official word from the government
after the Cabinet meeting. A press briefing
scheduled for the evening was cancelled.
 The reservation is for those castes who presently do not avail reservation in any category.
 According to the 2011 census, the population of the country was 1.21 billion.
 The population of the Scheduled Castes was 201.4 million and that of the Scheduled Tribes stood
at 104.3 million.

U.S., China hold crucial talks to ease trade war

News: Delegates from the US and China began the crucial face-to-face negotiations here to
ease a bitter trade war between the world‘s two largest economies amid growing concerns about
China‘s slowing economy and its impact on American businesses.

Beyond News

 The US and China have been locked in an escalating trade spat since early 2018, raising import
tariffs on each other‘s goods.
 Last year, US President Donald Trump imposed tariff hikes of up to 25 % on $250 billion of
Chinese goods. The move prompted China to increase tariffs on $110 billion of US goods.
 Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to halt any further tariff increases for 90 days
beginning January 1.
 Deputy US trade representative Jeffrey Gerrish is leading the US delegation at the two-day talks
with Chinese vice-ministerial counterparts.
 China is facing the daunting task of presenting a credible plan to meet Trump‘s demands to cut
down the $375 billion trade deficit.
 Ahead of the talks, China softened its stand by offering a mix of concessions by resuming
purchases of US soybeans, suspended punitive tariffs on imports of US cars and toned down its
Made in China 2025 hi-tech policy.
 It has also proposed clear bans on forced technology transfer in new draft foreign investment
legislation.
 Both sides have set March 1 as the deadline to defuse trade tensions.
 The protracted trade war between the top two economies of the world is seen by many as a battle
for global leadership.
 Chinese economy grew at 6.5 % in the third quarter posting slowest growth since 2009 as it
grappled with the intensifying trade war with US and the mounting local governments debt which
rose to $2.58 trillion.
 On the contrary, the US economy on a path of recovery grew at an annual rate of 3.4 % in the
third quarter and unemployment is stated to be at a five-decade low.

Defence manufacturing rules eased

News

 The government issued a notification last week simplifying the the process for approval of
manufacturing of a range of defence and aerospace equipment and components by private
industry, by bringing them under the licensing authority of the Department of Industrial Policy
and Promotion (DIPP).

Beyond News

 The notification was issued as a press note by the DIPP, which is under the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry.
 Items are listed in three categories defence aircraft, warships of all kinds, and allied items of
defence equipment.
 The most significant aspect is that warships of all kinds, surface and sub-surface, have been
included in the listing.
 This notification, which supersedes DIPP‘s earlier press note of June 2014 on this issue,
segregates defence items in two categories covered by two different Acts the Industries
(Development and Regulation) Act, 1951, and the Arms Act, 1959.
 This move is also expected to help foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM)
looking for partnerships with the private sector. The Defence Ministry has formulated an
ambitious Strategic Partnership (SP) model under the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP),
covering four specific areas to promote role of private sector in defence manufacturing.
 However, progress on finalising the projects under the SP model has been slow.
 The ASSOCHAM statement said the creation of a strong supply chain is critical.

General Studies-03
Nepal writes to RBI to declare banned new Indian currency
notes legal
News: Nepal has asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to declare newly circulated Indian
currency notes of denominations higher than Rs. 100 legal tender in the country.

 The Nepal Rastra Bank, the country‘s central monetary authority, wrote a letter on Friday to the
RBI, asking it to make Rs. 200, Rs. 500 and Rs. 2,000 legal tender in Nepal.
NASA’s Juno probe captures volcanic plumes on Jupiter’s moon
Io
News: NASA‘s solar-powered Juno spacecraft has beamed back new images of volcanic plume on
Jupiter‟s moon Io, captured during the mission‘s 17th flyby of the gas giant.

Beyond News

 During winter solstice, four of Juno‘s cameras captured images of

the Jovian moon Io, the most volcanic body in our solar system.
 JunoCam, the Stellar Reference Unit (SRU), the Jovian Infrared
Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) and the Ultraviolet Imaging
Spectrograph (UVS) observed Io for over an hour, providing a
glimpse of the moon‘s polar regions as well as evidence of an
active eruption.
 The images show the moon half-illuminated with a bright spot seen
just beyond the terminator, the day-night boundary.
 After Io had passed into the darkness of total eclipse behind Jupiter,
sunlight reflecting off nearby moon Europa helped to illuminate Io and its plume.
 The images can lead to new insights into the gas giant‘s interactions with its five moons, causing
phenomena such as Io‘s volcanic activity or freezing of the moon‘s atmosphere during eclipse.
IANS

Scientists unearth Asia’s first fossil Dioscorea yam leaf

News:A quaint fossilised leaf is one of the most recent finds throwing light on India‘s past. The leaf
fossil is the first of Dioscoreayams from Asia and hints at a Gondwanan origin to these plants,
claim scientists.

Findings

 When scientists were leading a dig in the Eocene-era (38-56

million years ago) Gurha lignite mine in Bikaner in western
Rajasthan, they obtained two well-preserved fossils of large
leaves.
 The team identified it as a species of Dioscorea,a kind of yam
that grows as a herbaceous vine in the humid tropics of India
and other countries.
 They also used the morphological features of the leaves
venation and leaf shape to rule out other plants that look very
similar to it. When they compared it to the
other Dioscorea fossils obtained from Europe, Africa and
America, they found it to be very distinct.
 The team named their new find Dioscorea eocenicus:the first
ever Dioscorea fossil recorded from Asia. Currently, species
of Dioscorea in India are found in the humid, tropical forests of the country.
 Based on this, the team infer that such tropical forests must have flourished in this part of
Rajasthan during early Eocene. Other fossil plants observed in the mine also suggest this
historical climate in the area, which is now dry and consists of desert vegetation.
Navy’s new air base in north of Port Blair
News: The Indian Navy will commission a new airbase 100 miles north of Port Blairin the
strategically located Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Beyond News

 This will be India‘s fourth air base and the third naval air facility in the archipelago, which are
more closer to Southeast Asia than to the Indian mainland, overlooking key sea lanes of
communication and strategic choke points.
 The base will initially operate choppers and Dornier short-range surveillance aircraft.
 The naval air station near Diglipur port is being converted into a full-fledged base and would
extend India‘s foot print over the East Asian region. For instance, Myanmar and Thailand are
about 500 km away from INS Kohassa.
 It will initially have a runway of about 3000 metres which will in phases be extended to 9000
metres to support all kinds of aircraft including fighter jets.
 As part of the upgrade, the base will feature staging facilities, fuel dump and maintenance and
repair facilities and a complement of personnel would be positioned there.
 The Navy currently operates air strips at Port Blair and INS Baaz at Campbell Bay, while the Air
Force has a base in Car Nicobar.
 With increased contestation in the region and in an effort to keep an eye on movements, India has
considerably upgraded military infrastructure and facilities and deployed long range assets to
monitor the region including the Malacca Strait. The islands also houses India‘s only tri-service
command.
 The base can also act as an alternate runway to Port Blair for civilian traffic in case of
emergencies.

Dark matter can be moved around: study

News: In a first, scientists have found evidence that the mysterious dark matter believed to make
up most of the mass of the universe can be heated up and moved around, as a result of star
formation in galaxies.

Findings

 The findings, provide the first observational evidence for the effect known as ‗dark matter
heating‘, offering clues as to what makes up dark matter.
 Scientists set out to hunt for evidence for dark matter at the centres of nearby dwarf galaxies.
 Dwarf galaxies are small, faint galaxies that are typically found orbiting larger galaxies like our
own Milky Way. They may hold clues that could help us to better understand the nature of dark
matter.
 Dark matter is thought to make up most of the
mass of the universe. However since it does
not interact with light in the same way as
normal matter, it can only be observed through
its gravitational effects.
 The key to studying it may however lie in how
stars are formed in these galaxies.
 When stars form, strong winds can push gas
and dust away from the heart of the galaxy.
 As a result, the galaxy‘s centre has less mass, which affects how much gravity is felt by the
remaining dark matter.
 With less gravitational attraction, the dark matter gains energy and migrates away from the centre,
an effect called ‗dark matter heating‘
 The team of astrophysicists measured the amount of dark matter at the centres of 16 dwarf
galaxies with very different star formation histories.
 Scientists found that galaxies that stopped forming stars long ago had higher dark matter densities
at their centres than those that are still forming stars today. This supports the theory that the older
galaxies had less dark matter heating.
 The findings provide a new constraint on dark matter models: dark matter must be able to form
dwarf galaxies that exhibit a range of central densities, and those densities must relate to the
amount of star formation.
 The team hopes to expand on this work by measuring the central dark matter density in a larger
sample of dwarfs, pushing to even fainter galaxies, and testing a wider range of dark matter
models.

Govt. banks rationalising foreign units

News: Public sector banks are in the process of closing or rationalising about 69 overseas
operations in the next few months as part of their capital conservation exercise.

Beyond News

 Planned rationalisation of operations and examination of a total of 216 overseas operations of the
public sector banks (PSBs) was undertaken last year.
 Following the review, 35 overseas operations were closed while 69 are under process or being
considered for rationalisation.
 Unviable foreign operations are being shut while multiple branches in same cities or nearby
places are being rationalised with a view to achieve efficiency.
 State Bank of India (SBI) has the largest number of overseas branches (52) followed by Bank of
Baroda (50) and Bank of India (29).
 The State-owned banks have the largest number of branches in the U.K. (32) followed by Hong
Kong and the UAE (13 each) and Singapore (12).
 As many as 41 branches were in losses in 2016-17. The country‘s largest lender SBI led the pack
with nine of its overseas branches in the red. It was followed by Bank of India and Bank of
Baroda with eight and seven branches, respectively.
 According to the banking sector agenda, approved at the PSB Manthan November 2017, banks
have to undertake rationalisation of overseas operations for cost efficiencies and synergies in
overseas markets, based on competitive strength and viability, and a differentiated banking
strategy to leverage bank‘s competitive advantage, which may include branch network
rationalisation for a strong regional connect.
 All PSBs such as Allahabad Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, IDBI Bank,
Indian Overseas Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, and Union Bank of India that
have foreign branches have jointly taken the initiative to prepare a note in mutual consultation for
rationalisation of their foreign branches.
 January 8
General Studies-01
Wild guests start migration
News: With the rise in mercury in the Nilgiri Biosphere, the seasonal migration of wild
animals from wildlife sanctuaries in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary
(WWS) has begun.

Beyond News

 Mammals such as elephants and gaurs migrate to the sanctuary from the adjacent Bandipur and
Nagarhole national parks in Karnataka and the Mudumalai national park in Tamil Nadu in search
of food and water.
 Though the wildlife migration has started a little early this year, man-animal conflict is
comparatively very low on the fringes of the sanctuary, no case of lifting of domestic animals by
predators such as tiger or leopard has been reported so far.
 Water sources in the sanctuary, including 30 earthen bunds, 45 check-dams and 235 waterholes,
have been closely monitored with GPS every
week to ensure drinking water for the wildlife.
 As part of fodder management, around 300
hectares of coarse grasslands have been
trimmed to grow soft grass.
 Fire line has been erected along 230 km on the
forest fringes to prevent wildfire. Apart from
25 permanent anti-poaching camps and five
watch towers at important strategic points, 12
new treetop machans (temporary watchtowers)
will start functioning in a week.
 Forest officials, including guards and watchers, have been deployed there to keep watch over
poaching and wildfire.
 A round-the-clock control room has been set up to issue alert in case of forest fires.

General Studies-02
Centre okays Citizenship Bill
News: The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the
contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill,
2016 recommended that Assam government should
help settle migrants “especially in places which are not
densely populated, thus, causing lesser impact on the
demographic changes and providing succor to the
indigenous Assamese people.‖

Beyond News
 The Bill paves way to grant citizenship to six religious minorities — Hindus, Jains, Sikhs,
Parsis, Christians and Buddhists from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came to
India before 2014.
 The Union Cabinet cleared the redrafted Citizenship Amendment Bill, and it is likely to be tabled
in the Parliament.
 Inputs from security agencies along with other corroborative evidence in the print/electronic
media would help to establish religious persecution in a foreign land.

Trump, Modi discuss Afghanistan

News: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump discussed bilateral ties
including cooperation in Afghanistan and trade issues

 The conversation came days after the American

leader indicated his preference for greater
Indian contribution for ending the civil war in
Afghanistan.

Beyond News

 A White House readout on the conversation said

that the two leaders discussed security issues.
 The leaders agreed to strengthen the US-India
strategic partnership in 2019 and exchanged
perspectives on how to reduce the U.S. trade
deficit with India, expand security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, and increase cooperation in
Afghanistan.
 They expressed satisfaction at the progress in India-U.S. strategic partnership in 2018. They
appreciated developments such as the launch of the new 2+2 Dialogue mechanism and the first-
ever Trilateral Summit of India, the U.S. and Japan.

Kim Jong un visits China after warning of alternate path to U.S.

talks
News: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is visiting China at the invitation of Chinese President Xi
Jinping, only days after warning he may take an alternative path if the United States does not ease
sanctions and pressure on his isolated country.

Beyond News

 The visit, confirmed by North Korean and Chinese state media, will likely lead to Mr. Kim‘s
fourth summit with Mr. Xi in the last year and comes amid plans for a second summit with Mr.
Trump aimed at denuclearising the Korean peninsula.
 Kim held three summits last year with Mr. Xi, his most important ally, before and after summits
with Mr. Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
 Kim‘s visit to North Korea‘s most important economic and diplomatic ally, which was first
reported by South Korean media, comes amid reports of advanced negotiations for a second
summit between Washington and Pyongyang aimed at resolving the standoff over North Korea‘s
nuclear programme.
 While there were no details released about the possible agenda in China, Mr. Kim has been
seeking relief from international sanctions, a peace declaration to formally end the 1950-1953
Korean War, and more economic investment.
 Ties between China and North Korea, which had frayed as Pyongyang stepped up its
provocations through a series of missile and nuclear tests, warmed over the last year as Mr. Kim
engaged with Beijing as well as Seoul and Washington.

SC notice to EC on VVPAT verification

News: The Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to respond to a plea that the counts
from electronic voting machines and voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units should be
cross-verified in at least 30% randomly chosen polling stations in each Assembly and Lok Sabha
constituency, especially in light of the Lok Sabha election.

Beyond News

 The petition said the commission had chosen to conduct the cross-verification exercise in an
―inexplicably minuscule‖ manner in the recent Assembly elections.
 The fraction of polling stations chosen for such random cross-verification has been inexplicably
minuscule (less than 1% of polling stations in each constituency). This is manifestly arbitrary,
irrational, unreasonable and in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution, the petition said.
 The court‘s judgment and need for voter confidence and transparency in the election process led
to the mechanism for random cross-verification of EVM and VVPAT counts.
 This was in order to detect any technological mischief or mal-programming of EVMs, the
petitioners contended.

General Studies-03
73 ‘dying’ species are in conservation breeding stage in Indian
zoos: CZA
News: Central Zoo Authority (CZA) said that conservation breeding of 73 critically endangered
species was being taken up at various Indian zoos, including the Mysuru zoo.

 The aim is to breed such species in captivity and release them into the wild later, after meeting
all the protocols.

Beyond News

 The CZA identified such species for conservation breeding after taking note of the drastic decline
in their numbers in the wild. The zoos that are part of the project are identified as ―coordinating
zoos‖ and ―participating zoos‖, and their roles and responsibilities have been defined as per their
record and expertise in captive breeding.
 The Indian gaur, lion-tailed macaque, grey wolf, wild dog, grey jungle fowl, and giant squirrel are
the species for which Mysuru zoo is carrying out conservation breeding. Among the other
critically endangered species whose conservation breeding was under way across the country are
snow leopard (in Himachal Pradesh) and pangolin (at Nandankanan zoo in Odisha).
 Barring mouse deer, gharial, and vulture species, no other species listed for conservation breeding
has been released into the wild. Mouse deer bred in the Hyderabad zoo and vultures bred in
captive conditions at Pinjore in Haryana were successfully released into the wild, but the release
of the gharial was unsuccessful. All three species of vultures were successfully bred in captivity.

Real-time air pollution study to be ready in 18 months

News: A real-time study of the sources of pollution in the Capital would be conducted by the
University of Washington and the Delhi government over the next 18 months.

Beyond News

 The government signed a memorandum of understanding with Washington University for the
joint project that will collect real-time air pollution data, particularly particulate matter.
 The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and the University of Washington will carry out
real-time sampling of PM 1, PM 2.5 and PM 10, in addition to suggesting ways to minimise
pollution.
 For the study, wireless sensors would be deployed along with a specially developed algorithm.
 The real-time data will help policy development to regulate and improve the air quality, whereas
the state of the art instrument demonstration will lead a path of capacity building development.

January 9
General Studies-01
Greenland s melting ice sheet releasing tons of methane
News: The Greenland ice sheet emits tons of methane according to a new study, showing
that subglacial biological activity impacts the atmosphere far more than previously thought, say
researchers.

Findings

 The study reported that ice sheet beds, which hold large reserves of carbon, liquid water,
microorganisms and very little oxygen the ideal conditions for creating methane gas are also
atmospheric methane sources.
 Using novel sensors to measure methane in meltwater runoff in real time, they observed that
methane was continuously exported from beneath the ice.
 They calculated that at least six tons of methane was
transported to their measuring site from this portion of the
Ice Sheet alone, roughly the equivalent of the methane
released by up to 100 cows.
 This is the first time that meltwaters produced in spring and
summer in large ice sheet catchments have been reported to
continuously flush out methane from the ice sheet bed to
the atmosphere.
 General Studies-02
10% reservation for the poor gets LS approval
News: The Lok Sabha passed a Bill allowing 10% quota in employment and education for the
general category candidates who belong to the economically weaker sections.

Beyond News

 The Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill, 2019, introduced by Minister of Social Justice and
Empowerment, was cleared with a majority of the members (319) voting for it, and four against.
 The 10% reservation will be over and above the 50% stipulated by the Supreme Court and is
expected to benefit a huge section of upper castes, including Brahmins, Rajputs (Thakurs), Jats,
Marathas and Bhumihars and trading castes such as Kapus and Kammas.
 The economically deprived among the poor in the other religions will also benefit.

Lok Sabha passes DNA technology Bill

News: The Lok Sabha passed a Bill that allows regulated use of DNA technology to establish the
identity of certain defined categories of persons, including offenders, suspects, and undertrials.

Beyond News

 The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill allows the use of the technology to
establish the identity of persons in matters of crime, parentage dispute, emigration or immigration
and transplantation of human organs.
 The Bill provides for establishment of national and regional DNA data banks and each data will
maintain the indices, including crime scene index, suspects‘ or undertrials‘ index and offenders‘
index.

General Studies-03
NASA’s probe discovers a new planet
News: NASA‘s latest planet-hunting probe has discovered a new world outside our solar system,
orbiting a dwarf star 53 light years away.

Beyond News

 This is the third new planet confirmed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) since
its launch.
 The planet, named HD 21749b, orbits a bright, nearby dwarf star about 53 light years away, in
the constellation Reticulum, and appears to have the longest orbital period of the three planets so
far identified by TESS.
 HD 21749b journeys around its star in a relatively leisurely 36 days, compared to the two other
planets Pi Mensae b, a ―super-Earth‖ with a 6.3-day orbit, and LHS 3844b, a rocky world that
speeds around its star in just 11 hours.
 All three planets were discovered in the first three months of TESS observations.
 The planet is about three times the size of the earth, which puts it in the category of a ―sub-
Neptune.‖
 However, it is unlikely that the planet is rocky and therefore habitable; it‘s more likely made of
gas, of a kind that is much more dense than the atmospheres of either Neptune or Uranus.

Customers cannot be charged for availing tokenisation service:

RBI
News:The Reserve of India (RBI) has allowed all card payment networks to offer tokenisation
service.

 However, the central bank has made it clear that no charges should be recovered from the
customer for availing this service.

Beyond News

 Tokenisation involves a process in which a unique token masks sensitive card details. The token
is then used to perform card transactions in contact-less mode at Point Of Sale (POS) terminals,
Quick Response (QR) code payments, etc.
 The RBI has allowed card payment networks to offer card tokenisation services to any token
requestor, that is, a third party app provider. A card holder can avail of these services by
registering the card on the token requestor‘s app and after giving ‗explicit consent‘.
 All extant instructions of Reserve Bank on safety and security of card transactions, including the
mandate for additional factor of authentication (AFA) / PIN entry shall be applicable for
tokenised card transactions also.
 For additional factor of authentication, PIN entry shall be applicable for tokenised card
transactions also.
 Adequate safeguards shall be put in place to ensure that PAN cannot be found out from the token
and vice versa by anyone except the card network.
 Moreover, actual card data, token and other relevant details shall be stored in a secure mode and
the token requestors are not allowed to store PAN or any other card detail.
 The ultimate responsibility for the card tokenisation services rendered rests with the authorised
card networks.

IBM gets 9,100 patents in 2018, India second highest contributor

News: Tech giant IBM said it had received 9,100 patents in 2018 across areas such as artificial
intelligence (AI),cloud computing and cybersecurity, with India being the second highest
contributor to the global record tally.

Beyond News

 In 2018, IBM employee inventors received a record number of 9,100 patents, marking the
company‘s 26th consecutive year of the U.S. patent leadership. IBM also led the industry in the
number of AI, cloud computing, security and quantum computing-related patent grants, with more
than 4,000 patents.
 It is committed to leading the way on technologies that change the way the world works and
solving problems which many people have not even thought of yet.
 Overall, the patents were granted to a diverse group of more than 8,500 IBM inventors in over 40
countries.

January 10
General Studies-02
‘Visually impaired not able to use banknotes’

News: The Delhi High Court sought responses from the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
on a plea seeking to lay down standards for design of banknotes and coins and make all forms of
physical currency and digital means of transactions accessible to the
visually impaired.

Beyond News

 A Bench sought response of the Centre and the central bank on the plea
filed by an organisation working for empowerment of visually impaired
persons.
 The plea also sought a direction to the government to stop circulation
and withdraw, in a phased manner, the inaccessible physical currency.
 The members of the NGO, Blind Graduates Forum of India, talked about
the difficulty being faced by the visually impaired in identifying the
currency, which was introduced post-demonitisation, and difficulty in
distinguishing coins.
 The NGO had sent a detailed representation in 2017 to the RBI Governor
highlighting the major challenges being faced by the visually impaired
and gave suggestions factoring in inputs from several blind and low
vision individuals.
 Despite the assurances given to the petitioner, the RBI introduced the
new ₹100 note, dimensions of which were once again not visually-impaired friendly.
 The NGO said that it received a mail from the RBI stating that the bank was sensitive to the
challenges faced by the visually impaired, but believed that technological advancement had
opened up new avenues for identification of currency by the visually impaired and accordingly,
they are working on the same.
 The petition said the plea was filed on behalf of over 52 lakh visually impaired persons in India
who are facing immense hardship owing to inaccessibility of physical Indian currency along with
inaccessible means of digital transactions and it has a direct negative impact on the independence
and livelihood of such people.
 The plea sought direction to the authorities to lay down standards as per the provisions of
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act for banking services, portals, apps, payment
gateways, hardware devices like ATM, point of sale devices, self-service passbook printers and
cash collection devices to make them accessible to the visually impaired within six months.
UN award for Sikkim
News: Sikkim beat 51 other nominations from across the globe to receive an UN award, for
becoming the world‟s first 100% organic state.

Beyond News

 Sikkim Chief Minister Chamling received the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation‘s (FAO)
Future Policy Gold Award for paving the way for the rest of the world.
 Sikkim was recognised for its farming policies which have helped over 66,000 farmers and
boosted tourism.
 It got rid of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and began using natural alternatives instead.

In a first, Delhi govt releases policy on animal welfare

News: Birth control programme for monkeys, a revised regime for sterilisation of stray dogs, and
electronic chips to identify owners of deserted pets and cattle are some of the measures the Delhi
government‟s first policy on animal welfare recommends.

Beyond News

 The Animal Health and Welfare Policy, 2018, also proposes a cowshed at Ghumanhera, ‗where
cows will be kept along with the elderly in a unique coexistence‘, was discussed at a meeting.
 The policy suggests tagging pets and cattle with electronic chips so that their owners can be
identified. It also provides for undertaking a monkey birth control programme under animal birth
control (ABC) initiatives and observes that sterilisation of stray dogs under the ABC programme
in Delhi through NGOs is not as per expectations.
 Strengthening infrastructure through a network of veterinary hospitals, polyclinics, aviaries,
helpline for distressed animal and birds, and ambulance services are other measures the policy
recommends.
 As per the policy, animal health and veterinary services will be strengthened through 24×7
operational polyclinics in all districts. The needs of birds will also be taken care at district-level
aviaries. A veterinary hospital that will be operational round-the-clock will be inaugurated at Tis
Hazari on January 16.
 Setting up 12 check posts and quarantine facilities at Delhi‘s borders is part of the policy.

U.K. to test immigration proposals in India

News: British officials are set to test India‟s reaction to proposals for a new post-Brexit
immigration system

 Home Office officials are set to meet with counterparts in India next week, as well as others, for
discussions on the ‗Immigration White Paper‘ unveiled by Home Secretary last year.

Beyond News

 The immigration plans aim to create a level-playing field for EU and non-EU workers, basing
immigration opportunities on skills levels rather than which part of the world workers have come
from.
 Among the changes proposed are the removal of the current annual cap on the number of Tier 2
visas for skilled workers, as well as the requirement that employers demonstrate that they
attempted to fill the role domestically before bringing in a person from abroad (the resident labour
market test).
 The government will also allow international students six months after they graduate to find
permanent skilled work and work temporarily during that period, while PhD graduates will have a
whole year to do so. There will be no post-study visa, however, as many student and university
bodies have been lobbying for.
 The government has also said it is to consult on the salary threshold for the skilled visas which
has been the subject of much debate in the U.K.
 While the Migration Advisory Committee has recommended setting it at £30,000 a year, business
groups and others have warned this would leave businesses unable to access key skills at a time
particularly crucial for the country.
 The meetings in India are also an acknowledgment of the crucial role the migration debate plays
in the bilateral relationship between the U.K. and India and the need to strengthen it ahead of
Brexit.
 Last year, the FCO warned in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry, that India accounts for the
largest number of individuals staying in the U.K. illegally, and the number of those subjected to
forced returns to India has fallen by 50% in three years.
 Britain also faced criticism for failing to include India in a relaxation of student documentation
requirements that were extended to other countries, including China.
 The discussions next week will focus on the issues in the white paper, rather than some of these
outstanding concerns, which will be the subject of further bilateral discussions in the future.

General Studies-03
A ‘bio-safe’ way to fight mosquitoes
News: Scientists said they had taken a major step toward developing a “mosquito birth control”
drug to curb the spread of malaria and other killer diseases blamed for hundreds of thousands of
deaths a year.

Findings

 Researchers said they had discovered a protein unique to female mosquitoes which is critical for
their young to hatch.
 When the scientists blocked the protein, the females laid eggs with defective shells causing the
embryos inside to die.
 The team said developing drugs which targeted the protein could provide a way to reduce
mosquito populations without harming beneficial insects such as bees.
 Mosquitoes are one of the world‘s deadliest insects, according to the World Health Organization
(WHO) which has warned that global progress against malaria is
stalling.
 The disease infected around 216 million people in 2016, killing
445,000 of them, predominantly babies and young children in sub-
Saharan Africa. Other diseases spread by mosquitoes include Zika,
chikungunya, yellow fever, West Nile virus and dengue, which has
risen 30-fold in recent decades, according to the WHO.
Caught on camera: Sikkim’s Royal
Bengal Tiger
News: Two clear images of a Royal Bengal Tiger going up
and down a path beside a camera trap laid at 9,538 ft have
provided the first visual evidence of a tiger in the
Himalayan State of Sikkim.

Beyond News

 The area where the tiger was photographed shares a

boundary with the Tibet Autonomous Region under the
control of China and Bhutan.
 While there were sightings and oral records of tiger
presence in Sikkim till the 1980s, there was no
photographic evidence to confirm the presence.
 In 2017 there were reports of a cattle kill at a place called Theng and pug marks of tigers were
found in the area.
 After the first camera trap images confirming tiger presence in Sikkim, the State Forest
Department is planning to install more camera traps at higher altitudes with the aim of obtaining
more evidence.
 The development also assumes significance as it comes only a few weeks after a tiger was spotted
in the snow-clad Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh, at a height of 3,630 m.

Hubble’s most advanced camera shut down: NASA

News: The operations of the Hubble Space Telescope‘s most technologically advanced camera have
been suspended after it encountered a hardware problem.

 Hubble is the first major optical telescope to be placed in space, providing an unobstructed
view into the universe. Launched in 1990, the world‟s first space telescope helped confirm the
theory that the universe is expanding, lending credence to the Big Bang theory.

Beyond News

 However, the telescope will continue to perform science observations with its other three active
instruments, while the Wide Field Camera 3 anomaly is investigated.
 The Hubble Wide Field Camera 3 was installed by space-walking astronauts during Servicing
Mission 4 in 2009.
 NASA said that the camera is equipped with back-up electronics that can be called to action
should they be needed to recover the instrument.
 Hubble has made more than 1.3 million observations since its
mission began in 1990, taking pictures of stars and galaxies of as
it whirls around the Earth.
 Astronomers using Hubble data have published more than
15,000 scientific papers, making it one of the most productive
scientific instruments ever built.
 January 11
General Studies-02
States’ approval not needed for quota Bill
News: The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Fourth Amendment) Bill of 2019 providing up to
10% reservation for economically weaker sections of the society may be notified as the law of the
land sooner than expected.

Beyond News

 The proviso to Article 368 (power of Parliament to amend the Constitution and procedure thereof)
holds that an amendment to a fundamental right coming under Part III of the Constitution need
not be ratified by the Legislatures of one-half of the States. So, this Bill may be notified by the
Central government as soon as it gets the assent from the President.
 The Bill, passed by both the Houses of the Parliament, adds new clauses to Articles 15 and 16 of
the Constitution. Both the Articles come under the part of ‗Fundamental Rights‘ in the text of the
Constitution.
 They are part of the ‗right to equality‘ section of fundamental rights envisaged in the Constitution.
 The new clause (6) to Article 15 allows the government to carve reservation for the economically
weaker sections of the society in higher educational institutions, including private ones, whether
they are aided or not by the State.
 Minority educational institutions are exempted. Likewise, the new clause (6) to Article 16
provides for quota for economically-deprived sections in the initial appointment in government
services.

Centre aims for 20% cut in air pollution by 2024

News: The Centre has launched a programme to reduce particulate matter (PM) pollution by 20-
30% in at least 102 cities by 2024.

Beyond News

 The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which was formally unveiled, is envisaged as a
scheme to provide the States and the Centre with a framework to combat air pollution.
 Pointing out that curbing PM pollution would be a long-term process, officials said the ₹300-crore
programme will bring pollution concerns to the heart of a State‘s development plans.
 In the past year, the 102 cities, identified as hotspots of pollution, were asked to submit a plan for
how they would address the problem.
 Broadly, the plans include increasing the number of monitoring stations, providing technology
support, conducting source apportionment studies, and strengthening enforcement. For achieving
the NCAP targets, the cities will have to calculate the reduction in pollution keeping 2017‘s
average annual PM levels as the base year.
 The World Health Organisation‘s database on air pollution over the years has listed Tier I and
Tier II Indian cities as some of the most polluted places in the world. In 2018, 14 of the world‘s
15 most polluted cities were in India.
 A study ranked India as No.1 on premature mortality and deaths from air pollution.
 As part of the NCAP, cities have been given a specified number of days to implement specific
measures such as ―ensuring roads are pothole-free to improve traffic flow and thereby reduce
dust‖ (within 60 days) or ―ensuring strict action against unauthorised brick kilns‖ (within 30
days). It doesn‘t specify an exact date for when these obligations kick in.

Trump threatens imposition of national emergency over border

wall issue
News: S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a national emergency which will
empower him to go ahead with his plan to construct a barrier, concrete or steel, along the
southern border with Mexico to prevent flow of illegal immigrants into the country.

Beyond News

 Trump said imposing a national emergency is the last option and threatened to use it if the
Democrats do not allocate funding for his controversial U.S.-Mexico border wall plan.
 A wall along the U.S.-Mexico border was one of Trump‘s signature campaign promises. Trump
wants $5.7 billion to build the wall, even though he said repeatedly during his campaign that he
would make Mexico pay for the structure.
 The Democrats are refusing to allocate the money, arguing that a wall would be costly and
ineffective. Mexico has rejected Trump‘s demand to pay for the border wall.
 A national emergency is declared in times of a crisis or a situation where certain circumstances
threaten the country. In this case, Mr Trump says the crisis is being caused by the illegal
immigrants arriving on the U.S.-Mexico border.
 Declaring a national emergency gives the president access to special powers that are contained in
many provisions under the National Emergencies Act of 1976. This Act was signed by President
Gerald Ford in September, 1976, to formalise the emergency powers of the president. These
powers effectively allow the president to bypass the usual political process.
 Trump‘s predecessor, Obama, used it 13 times, while his predecessor George Bush used it 12
times. If Trump goes ahead with declaring a national emergency, it would be the fourth of his
administration.

If Trump and Kim can meet, why not other countries: Nepal on
stalled SAARC summit
News: Nepal strongly pitched for convening of the SAARC summit, saying differences should be
resolved through dialogue and the grouping should collectively deal with terrorism and other key
challenges facing the region.

 The 2016 SAARC (South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation) Summit was to be held in
Islamabad. But after a deadly terrorist attack on an Indian Army camp in Jammu and
Kashmir that year, India expressed its inability to participate in it.
Beyond News

 It is Pakistan‘s turn to host the summit. However, India, citing continued support to cross-border
terrorism by Pakistan, has been maintaining that it is difficult to proceed with the summit.
 The summit was called off after Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan also declined to participate
in the meet. Maldives and Sri Lanka are the seventh and eighth members of the grouping.
 The Nepalese foreign minister, who held bilateral talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj, said his country has been raising the issue of the SAARC summit with India.
 SAARC summits are usually held biennially, hosted by a member state in alphabetical order. The
member state hosting the summit assumes the chair of the Association. The last SAARC Summit
in 2014 was held in Kathmandu, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
 The Nepalese foreign minister also said he has requested the Indian government to replace Rs 7
crore worth of old Indian currency notes with new ones.
 Following the demonetisation exercise in India, people in Nepal deposited the old notes in banks
in Nepal. Indian currency is extensively used by Nepalese people and businesses.
 The Nepalese government last month asked its citizens to refrain from keeping or carrying Indian
bank notes higher than Rs 100 denomination.
 On Nepal‘s ties with China, Nepal has very close ties with India and it will be unfair to compare
his country‘s relationship with India to that of China.
 Eminent Persons‘ Group (EPG) on Nepal-India relations was finalising its report covering all
aspects of the bilateral ties and asserted that there was no difference of opinion between the two
sides on the issue.

The EPG was formed in January 2016 with the mandate to review various aspects of the bilateral
relations including Nepal-India Friendship Treaty 1950.

General Studies-03
In a first for India, 20-day-old baby undergoes brain surgery
News: Surgeons at the Faridabad-based 300-bed Sarvodaya Hospital and Research Centre (SHRC)
have successfully conducted brain surgery on a 19-day-old baby boy weighing a little over one
kilogramme.

Beyond News

 This is the first time in India that neurosurgery of such a low-weighing baby has been done
by opening the skull and removing a life-threatening blood clot from the brain, which caused a
seizure in the neonate.
 The condition would have proved fatal had it not been treated promptly.
 The premature baby was one among twins born pre-term at 33
weeks.

Navy tests air-dropped containers

News: The Indian Navy has successfully tested containers that can
be air-dropped to enhance its operational logistics capability at
sea.
Beyond News

 Having a test payload of 50 kg, these containers, equipped to carry spares for ships up to 2,000
km away from the coast, were air-dropped into the Arabian Sea on January 8.
 This will reduce the requirement of ships to be close to the coast for collecting spares and stores,
thereby increasing the duration of their deployment.
 The Sahayak Containers, would enhance its operational logistics capability. Commander Karnik
explained that a test payload of 50 kg was dropped in the container, which descended to the sea
with the help of a parachute. With the success of these trials, series production of Sahayak
containers and parachutes would be undertaken.
 These cylindrical containers have been indigenously developed by the Naval Science and
Technological Laboratory (NSTL) and the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) of
the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
 The Indian Navy had last month inducted its first Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) in
Mumbai, to be deployed off the west coast.
 Another DSRV will be deployed along the east coast, in Visakhapatnam. This will reduce
dependence on foreign navies for salvage and rescue. With this, the Indian Navy joins a select
league of nations with the capability to rescue their submarines.

New single-dose Ebola drug treatment developed

News: Scientists have developed an experimental drug that in one dose successfully protected non-
human primatesagainst a lethal infection of all strains of the deadly Ebola virus.

 The study, found that a two-antibody cocktail called MBP134 could fully protect non-human
primates and ferrets against lethal Ebola virus infections caused by the Bundibugyo and Sudan
strain as well as the deadliest Zaire strain that caused the 2013-16 epidemic in West Africa and
the current outbreak in DR Congo.

January 12
General Studies-01
Oceans are heating up at a quickening pace, say scientists

News: The world‟s oceans are heating up at an accelerating pace as global warming threatens a
diverse range of marine life and a major food supply for the
planet.

Findings:

 The findings of Sciences, previous reports that suggested a

so-called pause in global warming in recent years.
 The latest technology shows no such hiatus ever existed,
raising new concerns about the pace of climate change and
its effect on the planet‘s main buffer the oceans.
 About 93% of excess heat trapped around the Earth by greenhouse gases that come from the
burning of fossil fuels accumulates in the world‘s oceans.
 The latest report relied on four studies, that gave more precise estimates of past trends in ocean
heat, allowing scientists to update past research and hone predictions for the future.
 A key factor in the more accurate numbers is an ocean monitoring fleet called Argo, which
includes nearly 4,000 floating robots that ―drift throughout the world‘s oceans, every few days
diving to a depth of 2,000 m and measuring the ocean‘s temperature, pH, salinity and other bits of
information as they rise back up.
 The new analysis shows warming in the oceans is on pace with measurements of rising air
temperature.
 And if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gases, models predict that the temperature of the top
2,000 metres of the world‘s oceans will rise 0.78 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
 The thermal expansion water swelling as it warms would raise sea level 30 cm, above any sea
level rise from melting glaciers and ice sheets.
 While 2018 will be the fourth warmest year on record on the surface, it will most certainly be the
warmest year on record in the oceans, as was 2017 and 2016 before that.
 The global warming signal is a lot easier to detect if it is changing in the oceans than on the
surface.

General Studies-02
Bill to terminate Pakistan designation as major non-NATO ally
introduced in Congress
News: An influential U.S. lawmaker has introduced a legislation in Congress to terminate the
designation of Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally.

Beyond News

 Introduced by Republican Congressman Andy Briggs, the resolution 73, introduced in the House
of Representatives, seeks termination of Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally and also sets
conditions for its re-designation if any.
 It states, for future redesignation, the U.S. President need to certify to the Congress that Pakistan
continues to conduct military operations that are contributing to significantly disrupting the safe
haven and freedom of movement of the Haqqani Network in that country.
 It also seeks certification from the Congress that Pakistan has taken steps to demonstrate its
commitment to prevent the Haqqani Network from using any Pakistani territory as a safe haven
and that the Government of Pakistan actively coordinates with the Government of Afghanistan to
restrict the movement of militants, such as the Haqqani Network, along the Afghanistan-Pakistan
border.
 The resolution asks the President to certify that Pakistan has shown progress in arresting and
prosecuting Haqqani Network senior leaders and mid-level operatives.

India has lost highest number of personnel in UN peacekeeping

mission
News: India has suffered the highest number of fatalities (164 out of 6,593 personnel) among
countries that have sent forces to the United Nations peacekeeping mission since 1948.
Beyond News

 Ethiopia and Rwanda have contributed the highest number of personnel, followed by three Asian
countries Bangladesh, India and Nepal. These five nations together account for a third of the
total peacekeeping force.
 Close to 3,800 personnel have been killed during missions since 1948. Of them, 164 were Indians.
Most of the deaths occurred during missions to Congo in the 1960s and former Yugoslavia in the
1990s.
 India lost most of its personnel to ―malicious acts‖ (deaths due to factors like revolution, riots,
sabotage, terrorism and murder). Accidents and illness were other causes.
 Nearly 80% of the Indian peacekeepers are deployed in Central African Republic and South
Sudan in various sections.

Pakistan still cosy with terrorists: India

News

 India urged Pakistan to demonstrate its sincerity for maintaining peaceful ties with India.
 In a scathing remark, the Ministry of External Affairs cautioned Islamabad, saying that the
government of Prime Minister Imran Khan is trying to integrate terrorists into Pakistani society.

Beyond News

 India‘s demand for punishing those responsible for the Mumbai attacks of 26/11 2008 and the
Pathankot terror attacks of 2016 have not been addressed so far by Pakistan.
 This is the first time since the arrival of the Imran Khan government in 2018 that New Delhi has
reminded Islamabad that it has failed to show commitment to control terror.
 Sources said that Pakistan was playing a game where it projected a sincere face through Mr. Khan
while in fact it was encouraging terrorism. In this regard the MEA said that some of the anti-terror
measures taken during the Nawaz Sharif era were discontinued.
 The MEA‘s comments came on the heels of statements by other governments calling for talks
between India and Pakistan to break the impasse.

General Studies-03
Demonetisation impact: delay in currency exchange irks Nepal
News: Upset over continued delays from New Delhi in exchanging demonetised
currency, Nepal says it will not accept high-value Indian notes until the government gives specific
assurances against future shocks.

Beyond News

 Oli government‘s recent move to ban all Indian currency notes above ₹100, India was yet to
respond to Nepal‘s two-year old demand for the return of more than ₹7 crore held officially by the
Nepali Rastra Bank (NRB).
 When ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes were demonetised on November 8, 2016, neighbouring countries
where Indian currency is used, like Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar, were left holding large sums of
the demonetised currency.
 While India has subsequently settled the issue with Bhutan, it is yet to respond to Nepal‘s
requests.
 Nepal was particularly affected by demonetisation, as the Indian currency is used in daily
transactions and many Nepalis working in India take remittances and savings in cash across the
border.
 Recent reports that India has stopped printing the ₹2,000 denomination notes has spurred
speculation that they might also be demonetised, worrying people in Nepal.

Smooth-coated otter population on the rise

News: A family of Indian smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata), including four pups, was
sighted in the Krishna estuary, indicating a significant rise in the population.

 In 2016, the Wildlife Management Division (Eluru) documented the presence of otter in and
around the Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary and the estuary.

Beyond News

 The conservation status is „vulnerable, ‘

according to the International Union of
Conservation for Nature (IUCN). Independent
researcher and wetland expert A. Venkata
Appa Rao documented the pups.
 The healthy growth of otter population can be
attributed to the abundant availability of prey
mostly fish in its habitat.
 Winter is the breeding season of the otters.
However, they could be sighted in the estuary
in all the seasons.

ISRO cranks up Gaganyaan project

News: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said work on ‗Gaganyaan‟, the project to
send a manned mission to space by 2022, would start soon at the newly created Human Space
Flight Centre (HSFC).

Beyond News

 The facility would be staffed by a dedicated

team, with ISRO planning to deploy 800 to 900
people over time on the project.
 ISRO‘s announcement of the new centre and
the naming of its head comes about five
months after the government first unveiled
plans to send a manned mission to space.
 While ISRO has projected a manpower
requirement of 861 personnel for the project,
including 761 to be appointed in addition to the
routine annual hiring. It expects to recruit the
team in stages.
 The heavy lift launch vehicle GSLV Mark III, which got operational in November after its second
successive flight in a row, must be suitably certified or human-rated. It will have two non-crew
flights in December 2020 and July 2021.

Elephant dung shows plastic threat is wild

News: A group of wildlife experts in West Bengal spend too much time looking closely at elephant
dung that have stumbled upon an alarming discovery: elephants of north Bengal have been
consuming plastic and loads of it.

Findings

 Until recently, the 168-km rail line between Alipurduar and the New Jalpaiguri railway station,
where over 60 elephants were mowed down by trains between 2004 and 2015, was known for
being a huge threat to elephants.
 While studying the Rethi-Moraghat elephant corridor in the region, experts from the Wildlife
Trust of India (WTI) and the north Bengal-based Society for Protecting Ophiofauna and Animal
Rights (SPOAR) discovered another threat: plastic.
 Experts were following elephant dung over an eight sq km area to understand the movement of
elephants. What caught their eye was the presence of plastic in dung piles.
 Elephants eat garbage and that is how plastics enter their system.
 Wildlife enthusiasts and conservationists have pointed out that a number of rivers in north Bengal
are filled up with plastic, and in the winter months, as these rivers turn dry, heaps of plastic
remain on the river bed.
 In mid-2018, a scientist from Kolkata was alarmed to see plastics in the Torsa river in the Buxa
Tiger Reserve. The Buxa Tiger Reserve sustains a large elephant population and the Torsa, which
flows from Bhutan to India, is the main water source in the reserve.

January 13 & 14
General Studies-02
India to grow crops for UAE, Saudi Arabia
News: UAE and Saudi Arabia had decided to use India as a base to address their food security
concerns.

Beyond News

 The UAE and Saudi Arabia will use India as a base in addressing their social security
concerns. For the first time, India‟s export policy identifies the potential of agriculture along
with horticulture, dairy, plantation and fisheries.
 The farm-to-port project will be similar to a special economic zone but in the style of a
corporatised farm, where crops would be grown keeping a specific UAE market in mind. The
concept has been accepted by both governments.
 Ensuring food security remains an area of high priority for India and the two countries whose
partnership has been on the upswing since 2015.
 The Indian government has already welcomed a proposal from the UAE for establishing food
security parks, including through the creation of high-quality food processing infrastructure,
integrated cold chains, value addition, preservation technology, packaging of food products and
marketing.
 It was estimated India would produce 290 million tons of agricultural produce, this year. Along
with about 310 million tons of horticulture, the produce would total over 600 million tons, besides
milk.

India, Afghanistan, Central Asian nations agree to cooperate in countering

terror
News: India and five Central Asian countries along with Afghanistan condemned terrorism in all
its forms and manifestations and agreed to cooperate in countering the menace which poses a threat
to people across the world.

Beyond News

 This was part of a joint statement issued at the end of the first ever meeting of the India-Central
Asia Dialogue which also saw the participation of Afghanistan at the ministerial level in
Samarkand.
 It referred to the ancient civilisational, cultural, trade, and people-to-people links between India
and Central Asia and expressed commitment to dynamic and fruitful friendly relations and
mutually beneficial cooperation between India and the Central Asian countries at bilateral and
multilateral formats.
 The countries reaffirmed their willingness for cooperation, mutual support, joint solution on
relevant issues in order to ensure security, stability and sustainable development.
 Also called for an inclusive Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process and reconciliation, and
assistance in economic reconstruction of Afghanistan through the implementation of joint
infrastructure, transit and transport, energy projects including regional cooperation and investment
projects.
 The participants welcomed the accession of India into the Ashgabat agreement on creating an
international transport and transit corridor.
 They discussed promising opportunities and areas of cooperation in promoting mutual trade,
attracting investments, innovations and technologies in key spheres of industry, energy,
information technologies, pharmaceuticals and agriculture, education and training.
 They also highlighted the importance of concerted efforts to improve the investment climate and
the market attractiveness of the region‘s economy, business opportunities of the Central Asian
countries on the world stage.

Punjab and Haryana account for 46% of stubble burning incidents

News: Stubble burning is a pan-Indian problem but is most acute in Punjab and Haryana, which
together account for 46% of the crop fires in the country.

Beyond News

 Stubble burning is the practice of intentionally setting fire to what remains after food grains have
been harvested. It is usually done to clear the field quickly for the next season and to burn off
weeds and other pests.
 In 2018, the most number of crop fires were detected in Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand and Uttar
Pradesh.
 Of the top 10 districts where most number of crop fires were detected, eight were in Punjab, one
in Jharkhand and one in Odisha.

General Studies-03
GST Council increases exemption limit, extends composition
scheme to services
News: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, took a slew of decisions aimed at reducing
the tax and compliance burden on small and medium enterprises, including increasing the
threshold limit below which companies are exempt from GST, extending the composition scheme to
small service providers, and allowing small companies to file annual returns.

Beyond News

 It is the GST Council‘s 32nd and last meeting before the Union budget.
 Union Finance Minister announced that the limit for eligibility for the composition scheme would
be raised to an annual turnover of ₹1.5 crore from April 1, 2019. Companies opting for the
scheme would be allowed to file annual returns and pay taxes quarterly from April 1 onwards.
 The scheme now allows companies with an annual turnover of up to ₹1 crore to opt for it, and file
returns on a quarterly basis at a nominal rate of 1%. So far, only manufacturers and traders were
eligible for this scheme.
 It was decided to extend the scheme to small service providers with an annual turnover of up to
₹50 lakh, at a tax rate of 6%.
 Regarding the annual turnover limit under which the GST would not be applicable if the company
so chooses, the limit had been raised to ₹40 lakh for most States and ₹20 lakh for the north-
eastern and hill States, from the earlier limit of ₹20 lakh and ₹10 lakh, respectively.
 The GST Council also decided to allow Kerala to levy a cess of up to 1% for up to two years on
intra-State supplies to help finance the disaster relief efforts following the recent floods.

Study shows solar wind fills the night side of the Moon
News: A study using observations from Chandrayaan 1 mission has found how plasma particles
from the solar wind make their way into the Moon‘s night side, filling up the wake region, long
thought to be devoid of plasma particles.

 This has significance in understanding bodies

like the Moon which do not have global
magnetic fields.

Findings

 In recent times, there has been a huge interest

in understanding the plasma environment of
the Moon, which is generated mainly by its
interaction with the solar plasma wind flowing
towards it from the Sun.
 This plasma wind consists of charged particles such as protons and is partly absorbed by the side
of the Moon facing the sun. The rest of the solar plasma wind incident on the Moon flows around
it, but leaves a wake (a void) on the side not facing the sun (the night-side of the Moon).
 Recent Moon missions such as Chandrayaan-1, Kaguya, Chang‘e-1 and Artemis have found
evidence of refilling of near lunar wake (heights of 100 km to 200 km above the lunar surface on
the night side) with solar wind protons.
 Unlike the Earth, the Moon has no global magnetic field originating from a magnetized core. It
has weak crustal fields that are too small to shield it globally from charged solar plasma particles
incident on it. At some regions the crustal fields are quite strong and these are known as magnetic
anomalies. The plasma particles scatter off these anomalous crustal fields.
 The present work shows that solar wind protons scattered from the magnetic anomaly located at
the South Pole Aitken basin on the Moon can enter the near wake region.
 The group also characterised the energy and flux of the proton population in the near wake region.
They find that the flux, or intensity, of the protons is approximately 0.0005 times the solar wind
proton flux.
 The data for the calculation was collected using the Chandrayaan-1 observations.
 Small scale crustal magnetic fields on the Moon can also cause scattering of impinging solar wind
protons back into space.

Citizen scientists find new planet using NASA telescope

News: Using data from NASA‘s Kepler space telescope, citizen scientists have discovered a world
roughly twice the size of Earth located within its star‟s habitable zone, the range of orbital
distances where liquid water may exist on the planet‘s surface.

Findings

 The new world, known as K2-288Bb, could be rocky or could be a gas-rich planet similar to
Neptune. Its size is rare among exoplanets – planets beyond our solar system.
 Located 226 light-years away in the constellation Taurus, the planet lies in a stellar system known
as K2-288, which contains a pair of dim, cool M-type stars separated by about 8.2 billion
kilometers — roughly six times the distance between Saturn and the Sun.
 The brighter star is about half as massive and large as the Sun, while its companion is about one-
third the Sun‘s mass and size. The new planet, K2-288Bb, orbits the smaller, dimmer star every
31.3 days.
 The researchers searched Kepler data for evidence of transits, the regular dimming of a star when
an orbiting planet moves across the star‘s face.

49 elephants killed in Railway

accidents between 2016-18:
MoEFCC
News: In 2016, the Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) released
‗Eco-friendly measures to mitigate impacts of
linear infrastructure‘, an advisory document
for mitigating human-animal conflicts.
 Despite this advisory, and many others issued by conservationists and organisations, deaths of
wild animals in road and railway accidents have continued unabated.

Beyond News

 The MoEFCC told the Rajya Sabha, that 49 elephants were killed in Railway accidents between
2016-18 (nine in 2015-16, 21 casualties in 2016-17 and 19 in 2017-18). In the same 3-year period,
three tigers were killed in road accidents while eight tigers were mowed down by trains.
 Three lions died in a train accident in the Amerli district of Gujarat in December 2018. Prior to
this, 10 lions died in railway and road accidents between 2016-2018.
 West Bengal and Assam together accounted for 37 out of the 49 deaths of elephants on train
tracks across the country.
 While the number of elephant casualties on railway tracks in West Bengal has fallen from five in
2015-16 to three in 2016-17 to two in 2017-18, the number of elephants dying in railway
accidents in Assam have increased in the same period the northeastern State recorded three
elephant deaths by accidents in 2015-16, which increased ten in 2016-17 and 14 in 2017-18.
 Another component of infrastructure low hanging or sagging electric wires become a major threat
to wildlife, particularly elephants. Between 2009 and 2017, 461 elephants have been electrocuted
in different parts of the country. On January 12, there were reports of two electrocuted elephants
in West Bengal‘s Paschim Medinipur district.

January 15
General Studies-01
Antarctica ice melting increased by 280% in last 16 years
News: Yearly loss of ice from Antarctica has increased by an alarming rate of 280% between
2001 and 2017, according to a study which showed that accelerated melting caused global sea levels
to rise more than half an inch in the last four decades.

Findings

 The researchers, were able to discern that between 1979 and 1990, Antarctica shed an average of
40 gigatonnes of ice mass annually.
 From 2009 to 2017, about 252 gigatonnes per year were lost.
 The pace of melting rose dramatically over the four-decade period. From 1979 to 2001, it was an
average of 48 gigatonnes annually per decade. The
rate jumped 280% to 134 gigatonnes for 2001 to
2017.
 For the study researchers conducted the longest-ever
assessment of remaining Antarctic ice mass.
 Techniques used to estimate ice sheet balance
included a comparison of snowfall accumulation in
interior basins with ice discharge by glaciers at their
grounding lines, where ice begins to float in the ocean
and detach from the bed.
 One of the key findings of the project is the contribution East Antarctica has made to the total ice
mass loss picture in recent decades.
 The sectors losing the most ice mass are adjacent to warm ocean water researchers said.
 As climate warming and ozone depletion send more ocean heat toward those sectors, they will
continue to contribute to sea level rise from Antarctica in decades to come.

An open-air lab to study effects of climate change

News: In one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, the southernmost part of Chile‘s Patagonia
region, scientists are studying whales, dolphins and algae in order to help predict how climate
change will affect the world‟s oceans.

Beyond News

 For the study, four researchers embarked from Punta Arenas for the remote Seno Ballena fjord.
 The fjord produces the kind of conditions that should be seen in other marine systems in the next
few decades, when dramatic changes are expected in the environment due to increased carbon
dioxide emissions in the atmosphere and the melting of glaciers.
 The researchers are analysing the chemical, physical and biological variables of the waters, which
show lower levels of pH, salinity and calcium, especially in the most shallow areas, as a
consequence of climate change.
 The chilly fjord waters provide one of the most productive marine habitats in the world, where
sardines and krill can be found in huge numbers.
 But climate change poses a threat to its ecosystem as the melting of a glacier on Santa Ines
island and increased rainfall have led to rising levels of freshwater. If that continues, it would
have dire consequences for whales as the plankton they feed on could disappear.
 A change in the microalgae could generate changes in the secondary structure (of the marine
system) or the animals that feed on these.
 The expedition members are taking samples from eight stations around Seno Ballena to measure
the effects of the melting glacier on Santa Ines.
 For now, researchers have noted a slight drop in the number of humpback whales but an increase
in other species such as sea lions, which previously were not present in that region, and dolphins.
 They also found a lower concentration of calcium carbonate, something which can affect the
shells of marine organisms such as mollusks or krill, a staple of a whale‘s diet.
 The crab, a species vital to the economy of the region around the strait, could be affected as it
needs calcium to harden its shell.

Water desalination plants harm environment: UN

News: Almost 16,000 desalination plants worldwide produce bigger-than-expected flows of
highly salty waste water and toxic chemicals that are damaging the environment.

Beyond News

 Desalination plants pump out 142 million cubic metres of salty brine
every day, 50% more than previous estimates, to produce 95 million
cubic metres of fresh water.
 About 55% of the brine is produced in desalination plants processing
seawater in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
 The hyper-salty water is mostly pumped into the sea and, over a year, would be enough to cover
the U.S. state of Florida with 1 foot of brine, it said of the fast-growing and energy-intensive
technology that benefits many arid regions.
 Brine, water comprising about 5% salt, often includes toxins such as chlorine and copper used in
desalination, it said. By contrast, global sea water is about 3.5% salt.
 Waste chemicals accumulate in the environment and can have toxic effects in fish.
 Brine can cut levels of oxygen in seawater near desalination plants with ―profound impacts‖ on
shellfish, crabs and other creatures on the seabed, leading to ecological effects observable
throughout the food chain.

General Studies-02
SC bans transportation of extracted coal lying at various sites in
Meghalaya
News: The Supreme Court banned the transportation of extracted coal lying at various sites in
Meghalaya which has had no success in rescuing 15 miners trapped inside anillegal rat-hole coal
mine for almost a month.

Beyond News

 The order was passed by a bench which

refused the plea of miners to allow them to
transport the extracted coal at various places.
 The bench issued notice to
the Meghalaya Government, the Centre and
others seeking their response on various issues
connected with coal mining in the state.
 The court said that this incident shows that
illegal mining continues unabated despite the
ban and the state may not be supporting it but has failed to contain illegal mining.
 The NGT had constituted the committee in August 2018 to supervise and look into the issue of
environmental restoration plan and other connected matters in Meghalaya.
 The committee was constituted during the hearing of the petition which had sought a ban on coal
mining in Meghalaya. It had also taken into account some reports of the state pollution control
board.

India to unveil Air Cargo Policy

News: India‟s first Air Cargo Policy will be unveiled at the two-day Global Aviation Summit
starting here on Tuesday.

Beyond News

 Despite registering a double-digit growth for nearly four years in a row, India has remained
without a specific policy for air cargo.
 Emphasising that security, safety, convenience and affordability were the key aspects, the aviation
vision for 2040 would address all the issues so that India will have sustainable growth in the
sector at all times.
 Solutions to critical issues relating to agriculture and manufacturing output and their supplies had
been sufficiently explored in the policy which was integrated with logistics.

Uzbekistan President to be Chief Guest at Vibrant Gujarat

Summit
News: President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev will attend the Vibrant Gujarat international
investment summit as a key guest in a first Central Asian country to participate as a country
partner in the flagship investment summit of Gujarat.

 The high-level delegation from Uzbekistan includes heads of Investment Committee, Trade
Committee, Chamber of Commerce, Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as more than 60
business owners, CEOs of the biggest national and private companies of Uzbekistan.

Beyond News

 During the two day summit, the President will also hold a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, who will inaugurate the 9th edition of the summit on January 19th.
 This is the second visit of President
Mirziyoyev to India during the last four
months. State visit of Uzbekistan‘s President in
October 2018 opened a new chapter in Uzbek-
India relations, including wider trade and
investment cooperation.
 During the two day summit, the first meeting
of newly formed Uzbekistan Indian Business
Council will also be held to pitch the central
Asian country as an investment destination for
Indian businesses.
 In Uzbekistan, Indian companies are exploring
investment opportunities in the sectors like
pharmaceutical, textile, education, Information Technology and tourism.
 To attract investments in the pharmaceutical sector, an Uzbek Indian Free Pharmaceutical Zone is
being developed in the Andijan region and this project was among 17 agreements that were inked
during the Uzbek president‘s State visit to India last year.
 In Uzbekistan, 18 free economic zones (FEZ) have been established with a 30-year operational
life and the possibility of a subsequent extension. Seven of them have a pharmaceutical focus.
 A country seminar on Uzbekistan will be held with a special focus on Uzbek Indian Free
Pharmaceutical Zone in Andijan.
 After the last year‘s visit of Uzbekistan President, Vibrant Gujarat Summit is the first platform
where both India and Uzbekistan leaders seek to strengthen business and trade ties between the
two countries.
 Uzbekistan provides most favored nation (MFN) status to 45 countries, including India.
Friendly investment environment is based on a reliable legal frame and a wide range of
guarantees and benefits for investors, including tax incentives, providing land and buildings on
attractive terms.
 General Studies-03
Giant pattern discovered in clouds of Venus
News: Japanese scientists have identified a giant streak structure among the clouds covering the
planet Venus.

 The researchers also revealed the origins of this structure

using large-scale climate simulations.

Findings

 According to the study, about 60 kilometres (km) above

Venus‘ surface a speedy east wind circles the planet in about
four Earth days (at 360 km/hour), a phenomenon known as atmospheric superrotation.
 The sky of Venus is fully covered by thick clouds of sulphuric acid that are located at a height of
45-70 km, making it hard to observe the planet‘s surface from Earth-based telescopes and orbiters
circling Venus.
 Surface temperatures reach a scorching 460 degrees Celsius, a harsh environment for any
observations by entry probes. Due to these conditions, there are still many unknowns regarding
Venus‘ atmospheric phenomena.
 To solve the puzzle of Venus‘ atmosphere, the Japanese spacecraft Akatsuki began its orbit of
Venus in December 2015.
 Optical and ultraviolet rays are blocked by the upper cloud layers, but thanks to infrared
technology, dynamic structures of the lower clouds are gradually being revealed.
 Before the Akatsuki mission began, the research team developed a programme called AFES-
Venus for calculating simulations of Venus‘ atmosphere.
 On Earth, atmospheric phenomena on every scale are researched and predicted using numerical
simulations, from the daily weather forecast and typhoon reports to anticipated climate change
arising from global warming.
 For Venus, the difficulty of observation makes numerical simulations even more important, but
this same issue also makes it hard to confirm the accuracy of the simulations.

January 16
General Studies-01

Basic literacy, numeracy skills of rural

Class VIII students in decline: ASER
2018
News: While there has been some improvement in the
reading and arithmetic skills of lower primary students in
rural India over the last decade, the skills of Class VIII
students have actually seen a decline.
Findings

 The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2018, the results of a yearly survey that NGO
Pratham has been carrying out since 2006, shows that more than half of Class VIII students
cannot correctly solve a numerical division problem and more than a quarter of them cannot read
a primary-level text.
 Those figures are worse than they were a decade ago. In 2008, 84.8% of Class VIII students could
read a text meant for Class II; by 2014, only 74.6% could do so, and by 2018, that percentage had
fallen further to 72.8%.
 Four years ago, 44.1% of students at Class VIII could correctly divide a three-digit number by a
single-digit number; in 2018, that figure had fallen slightly to 43.9%.
 Pratham researchers concluded that ―without strong foundational skills, it is difficult for children
to cope with what is expected of them in the upper primary grades‖.
 The picture is slightly more encouraging at the Class III level, where there has been gradual
improvement since 2014. However, even in 2018, less than 30% of students in Class III are
actually at their grade level, that is, able to read a Class II text and do double-digit subtraction.
 These overall percentages also camouflage wide differences in skill level between States, or even
between students in a single classroom.

General Studies-02
Sushma Swaraj discusses enhancing bilateral cooperation with
Turkmenistan counterpart
News: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Rasit
Meredow on the sidelines of the India-Central Asia Dialogue here and discussed enhancing
bilateral cooperation across sectors.

Beyond News

 External Affairs Minister arrived in the ancient city of Samarkand on Saturday on a two-day visit
to Uzbekistan to attend the first India-Central Asia Dialogue, which focussed on a plethora of
regional issues including enhancing connectivity to war-ravaged Afghanistan.
 India enjoys close, friendly and historical ties with Turkmenistan and the two countries are part of
the ambitious TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) pipeline project.
 Turkmenistan, which sits on the world‘s fourth-largest gas reserves, started building its section of
the pipeline in December 2015.
 The TAPI pipeline will have a capacity to carry 90 million standard cubic metres a day
(mmscmd) gas for 30 years.
 The project will bring clean fuel to the growing economies of India and Pakistan. It will provide
energy-hungry India gas to run its power plants.
 Under the pipeline project, Pakistan and India will be provided 1.325 bcfd gas each and
Afghanistan will be getting a share of 0.5 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) gas.
 Prime Minister visited Turkmenistan in July 2015 during which a number of documents were
signed between the two sides.
 It was a historic visit given that an Indian Prime Minister had visited Turkmenistan after 20 years.
Cabinet clears next gen I-T filing system; Infosys to implement ₹
4,242 cr. project
News: IT major Infosys has been selected to implement the next generation system for processing
income tax return filings, with the Union Cabinet sanctioning an estimated ₹ 4,241.97 crore for
the project.

Beyond News

 The move will help in bringing down the income tax return (ITR) processing time to one day and
hence speed up refunds.
 The Cabinet, gave its approval to expenditure sanction of ₹ 4,241.97 crore for Integrated E-filing
and Centralised Processing Centre 2.0 Project of the Income Tax Department.
 The processing time at present for ITR is 63 days and it will come down to one day after
implementation of the project.
 The current system, has been a success and the new project will be more tax friendly.
 The e-filing and Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) projects have enabled end-to-end
automation of all processes within the Income Tax Department using various innovative methods
to provide taxpayer services and to promote voluntary compliance.
 The Cabinet also sanctioned a consolidated cost of ₹ 1,482.44 crore for the existing CPC-ITR 1.0
project up to 2018-19.
 The decision will ensure transparency and accountability besides faster processing of returns and
issue of refunds to the taxpayers‘ bank account directly without any interface with the Income
Tax Department.
 The broad objectives of the integration project include faster and accurate outcomes for taxpayer,
enhancing user experience at all stages, improving taxpayer awareness and education through
continuous engagement.
 Besides, it will also be promoting voluntary tax compliance and managing outstanding demand.

India to buy U.S. oil and gas: New Delhi’s envoy to Washington
News: India has committed to purchase $5 billion worth of oil and gas from the United States
annually, and $18 billion worth of defence equipment that are under implementation, a top Indian
diplomat here said, highlighting growing bilateral trade cooperation between the countries.

Beyond News

 S. export to India has gone up by at least 30%, India‘s Ambassador to the U.S.
 In the last two years, bilateral trade has increased from $119 billion to $140 billion, he said.
 In the field of oil and gas alone, India has
committed to purchase $5 billion from the U.S.
every year.
 In the defence sector, India is looking at $18
billion worth of orders that are under
implementation.
 Not only this, the large number of Indian students,
numbering 227,000 currently, contribute $6.5
billion to the American academic sector.
 General Studies-03
China’s lunar probe sees first cotton seed sprout on Moon
News: A cotton seed carried to the Moon by China‘s recent Chang‘e-4 probe has sprouted, the first
for any biological matter to grow on the Moon.

Beyond News

Images sent back by the probe showed that a cotton sprout had grown well, though no other plant
was found growing.

 On January 3, China‘s robotic spacecraft Chang‘e-4 landed on the far side of the moon, a first in
the human history of space exploration.
 The 1.3-tonne lander, which made a soft landing on the Moon, carried the seeds of cotton, oilseed
rape, potato and arabidopsis, as well as eggs of the fruit fly and some yeast, to form a simple mini
biosphere, according to a team led by scientists from Chongqing University in southwest China.
 Plants have been grown on the International Space Station before but never on the Moon.
 The ability to grow plants on the Moon will be integral for long-term space missions, like a trip to
Mars which would take about two-and-a-half years.
 It would mean that astronauts could potentially harvest
their own food in space, reducing the need to come back
down to Earth to re-supply.
 The plants are kept in a sealed container on board the
Chang‘e-4 lander. The crops will try to form a mini
biosphere an artificial, self-sustaining environment.
 The lunar mini biosphere experiment on the lander is
designed to test photosynthesis and respiration processes
in living organisms that result in the production of
energy.
 The whole experiment is contained within an 18 cm tall, 3 kg canister that was designed by 28
Chinese universities.

January 17
General Studies-02
Drone corridor proposed to expand UAS services in India
News: To address various challenges posed by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in India, a task-
force constituted by the Union government has proposed creation of a “Drone Corridor” in the
country.

Beyond News

 Accordingly, the task-force has recommended key principles in the Drone Ecosystem Policy
Roadmap that will guide the drafting of ‗Civil Aviation Regulations‘ (CAR) 2.0.
 Currently, a basic framework for regulations in the area has been established under the
―DigitalSky Platform‖ in CAR 1.0 which took effect from December 1, 2018.
 The roadmap was released at the Global Aviation Summit 2019 being held here.One of the key
recommendations is a Drone Corridor: A segregated airspace defined by the appropriate
authorities in consultation with the airspace designers to keep commercial UAS operations out of
the non-segregated airspace in which manned aircrafts operate.

Rupee pact with Iran to aid pharma exports

News: The Indian pharma industry now has an opportunity to increase exports to Iran,
following a rupee payment mechanism agreed upon recently by India and the Persian Gulf nation.

Beyond News

 Under the agreement, Indian refiners make payments in rupee for oil imports from Iran, to
designated accounts maintained with UCO Bank. A portion thus received is to be used by Iran to
pay for imports from India, including pharmaceuticals.
 Indian pharma exports to Iran were at $124.05 million last fiscal. Iran has a well-established
pharma industry that meets 80% of the country‘s requirement. The remaining 20% is met
predominantly through imports from Europe.
 While imposing the sanctions again, the U.S. provided a time window of exemption under which
India and a few other countries could continue to import oil for some time, but of relatively less
quantity.
 Pharmexcil, in a circular, intimated its members recently about the agreement under which 50%
of the amount credited by Indian oil companies could be utilised by Iran for making payments to
Indian exporters of goods and services. These funds may also be used for settlement of payments
to Indian exporters for transactions that took place prior to operationalisation of the arrangement.
 Constituting mostly APIs (bulk drugs), Indian pharma exports to Iran have been declining in
recent years.
 From $180.50 million in 2015-16, bulk drugs and intermediates contributing to a little over $119
million and drug formulations and biologicals around $40 million pharma exports to Iran fell to
$160.33 million in 2016-17. Bulk drugs and intermediates accounted for $83.67 million, while
export of drug formulations was for almost $47 million.
 Of the $124.05 million export in 2017-18, the share of bulk drug and intermediates was $66.22
million. Drug formulations and biologicals export stood at $37.58 million.

Indian universities move up in global ranking

News: India has improved its showing in the prestigious university rankings of Times Higher
Education Emerging Economies with 49 institutions making it to the list including 25 in the top
200.

Beyond News

 China remains the most represented nation in the annual 2019 listing, claiming four of the table‘s
top five positions with the Tsinghua University topping the chart, according to the London-based
Times Higher Education, a global organisation that produces data, analysis and expertise on
higher education.
 Leading India again is the Indian Institute of Science (14th), followed by the Indian Institute of
Technology Bombay (27th). However, both slipped back a place this year, largely due to
increased competition.
 The 2019 ranking comprises nearly 450 universities expanded from 378 last year. The table
presents a mixed picture for India, with several new entrants and high risers, alongside several
institutions that dropped back.
 India has increased its representation in the Times Higher Education Emerging Economies
University Rankings with 49 universities in the list as compared to 42 in 2018, the organisation
said. India has 25 universities in the top 200, a rise from 17 last year.
 The IIT Roorkee, however, scales 21 places and into the top 40 at 35th, thanks in particular to
improvements in its research and industry income.

General Studies-03
Indigenous attack helicopter crosses milestone
News: The indigenously developed Light Combat Helicopter has crossed a milestone, successfully
firing an air-to-air missile at a moving target, and it is now ready for induction, Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited, which is developing the helicopter.

Beyond News

 This is the first time in the country that a helicopter

has carried out an air-to-air missile engagement. None
of the helicopters in the military services in the
country has demonstrated such a capability. The LCH
has successfully completed all weapon integration
tests and is ready for operational induction.
 During the tests conducted recently at the integrated
test range at Chandipur, Odisha, the helicopter scored a direct hit on an aerial target and destroyed
it. The LCH is the only attack helicopter in the world capable of operating at altitudes as high as
Siachen Glacier.
 Equipped with the helmet-mounted sight and forward looking infra-red sighting system, LCH
pilots can detect and destroy any target on ground, or in the air. Using these systems, pilots can
launch a missile onto any target without having to turn the helicopter.
 The fire-and-forget missile is effective against all types of aerial threat, including unmanned aerial
vehicles and microlight aircraft.
 The other weapons on the 5.8-tonne LCH include a 20-mm turret gun and 70-mm rockets, the
firing trials of which were completed last year.
 The Defence Acquisition Council has approved the procurement of an initial batch of 15 LCHs 10
are for the Indian Air Force and five for the Army. The IAF has sought 65 LCHs and the Army
114.

RBI eases norms for external commercial borrowing

News: In a bid to improve ease of doing business, the Reserve Bank of India has decided to
liberalise external commercial borrowing (ECB) norms, allowing all companies that are eligible
for receiving foreign direct investment, to raise funds through the ECB route.
Beyond News

 The list of eligible borrowers has been expanded. All entities eligible to receive foreign direct
investment can borrow under the ECB framework.
 The new framework takes immediate effect.
 The RBI has decided to keep the minimum average maturity period at 3 years for all ECBs,
irrespective of the amount of borrowing, except for borrowers specifically permitted to borrow for
a shorter period. Earlier, the minimum average maturity period was five years. The ceiling for
borrowing remains at $750 million.
 All eligible borrowers can now raise ECBs up to $750 million or equivalent per financial year
under the automatic route replacing the existing sector-wise limits.
 Any entity who is a resident of a country which is financial action task force compliant, will be
treated as a recognised lender.
 This change increases lending options and allows various new lenders in ECB space while
strengthening the [anti money laundering / combating the financing of terrorism] framework.
 RBI had capped funds raised via ECBs at 6.5% of GDP, at current market prices. Based on GDP
figures for March 31, 2018, ‗the soft limit works out to $160 billion.

Decoding patterns of lion, tiger and leopard attacks on humans

News: A recent study reveals that lion attacks led to more human fatalities, persisted for a longer
time and extended over larger areas than tiger or leopard attacks.

Findings

 The study analysed 908 attacks on humans by these

species in India, Nepal, and Tanzania. Researchers said
very little is known about the pattern of such attacks
and studies like these provide a range of perspectives.
 The study also revealed that lion and tiger attacks were
disproportionately located in residential woodlands
habitat with 10–100 people per sq km, and lions also
attacked more people in areas with recent loss of tree
cover.
 It analysed 319 lion attacks in southern Tanzania
between 1989 and 2008 that were spread over an area of 42,500 sq km; 67 leopard attacks
between 1993 and 2003 in Maharashtra spread over an area of 4,100 sq km and 329 leopard
attacks between 2004 and 2014 in Himachal Pradesh spread over an area of 19,100 sq km.
 The tiger attacks were studied in India and Nepal 94 attacks over an area of 2,400 sq km in
Maharashtra between 2005 and 2010; and 88 in 2,300 sq km around the Chitwan National Park in
Nepal between 1979 and 2006.
 Analysis reveals the typical spatiotemporal patterns of past lion, leopard, and tiger attacks on
humans. In future, this technique could be used by relevant agencies to warn local people of risks
from further attacks within a certain time and distance following an initial incident by each
species.
 The approach can also help identify areas requiring management interventions to address such
threats.
 The findings could provide valuable information to agencies for concentrated conservation efforts
in future.
 January 18
General Studies-02
New Delhi appoints new envoys for Israel, South Africa, Bhutan,
Maldives
News: In a major reshuffle of ambassadorial appointments, the Ministry of External Affairs has
decided on sending new Ambassadors to Israel, Mexico, South Africa, Argentina, New Zealand and
Vietnam.

Beyond News

 More than 20 ambassadorial and key consulate positions are expected to come up for change,
although some of the postings are yet to be announced and the timing of the moves will depend on
documents or ―agreements‖ being cleared by host countries.
 There will also be two significant changes in the neighbourhood coinciding with new
governments being elected in Bhutan and the Maldives.

U.S. discusses potential missile defence cooperation with India

News: The Trump administration has discussed a potential missile defence cooperation with
India as part of its effort to deepen the bilateral strategic partnership, the Pentagon has said, asserting
that New Delhi is a ―key element‖ in America‘s Indo-Pacific strategy.

Beyond News

 The Pentagon‘s announcement in the 81-page ‗Missile Defense Review‘ report released by
President Donald Trump gains significance in view of India placing a $5 billion order to purchase
S-400 air defense system from Russia, for which the US has publicly expressed its displeasure.
 The report, which identifies missile development projects by Russia and China as major threats to
the U.S., did not give any further details about its potential missile defense cooperation with
India.
 The U.S. has shown reluctance to offer its missile defense system to India.
 As part of its Indo-Pacific strategy, the Trump administration now seems to be more than inclined
to let India procure its missile defense system with talks between the two countries having already
started.
 The Missile Defense Review report said that the cornerstone of U.S.‘ security and diplomacy in
the Indo-Pacific region is its strong bilateral alliances with Japan, South Korea and Australia, and
emerging security relationships with others such as India.
 Japan and South Korea are working with the U.S. to build missile defense systems that are
increasingly interoperable with American defences and increasingly capable against regional
offensive missile threats and coercion.
 This cooperation includes bilateral missile defense training
exercises with the US.
 Australia participates in a trilateral discussion on missile
defense with the U.S. and Japan. The U.S. and Australia meet
annually to discuss bilateral missile defense cooperation.
 New areas of focus include joint examination of the challenges posed by advanced missile threats.

H-1B visa holders prone to abuse: U.S. think tank

News: A U.S. think tank has claimed that H-1B workers are ―underpaid, vulnerable to abuse‖ and
frequently placed in ―poor working conditions‖.

Beyond News

 In a report, the South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council also sought safeguards like higher
wages, fair working conditions and greater employment rights for those working under the visa
programme.
 The H-1B visa, popular among Indian IT professionals, is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S.
companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or
technical expertise.
 The report comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would soon come out with
reforms that would give H-1B visa holders certainty to stay in America and an easy pathway to
citizenship.
 The think tank report has been authored by Ron Hira from Howard University and Bharat
Gopalaswamy, head, South Asia Center of the Atlantic Council.

Mizoram bans import of pigs to prevent swine disease

News: The Mizoram government has banned import of pigs and piglets to prevent outbreak of a
disease that has cost the lives of thousands of swines in the State.

Beyond News

 The State government has instructed deputy commissioners of all eight districts to issue
prohibitory orders banning the import of pigs and piglets from other countries.
 The porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome has cost the lives of over 10,000 swines in
Mizoram since 2013 and it is believed that it happened due to import of pigs from Myanmar
where the disease was known to be prevalent.
 The symptoms of disease include reproductive failure, pneumonia and increased susceptibility to
secondary bacterial infection, the sources said.

General Studies-03
Saturn’s rings are younger than thought
News: Saturn‟s rings are one of our solar system‟s magnificent sights, but may be a relatively
recent addition, according to data obtained from NASA‘s Cassini spacecraft before the robotic
explorer‘s 2017 death plunge into the giant gas planet.

Findings

 Scientists said that a calculation of the mass of the

rings based on gravitational measurements of the
planet collected by Cassini indicated they formed
between 100 million and 10 million years ago in
 roughly the final 2% of Saturn‘s current age.
 The findings challenge the notion favoured by some astronomers that the rings developed soon
after Saturn formed about 4.5 billion years ago along with the other planets, including the earth.
 The ring mass turned out to be 45% lower than previous estimates based on 1980s data from
NASA‘s Voyager spacecraft. Lower mass indicates a younger age.
 Scientists suspect the rings formed perhaps when a large icy comet or moon ventured too close to
Saturn and was shattered by gravitational forces or moons collided in orbit. Scientists hope that
they can, in the future, get samples of ring material to find the precise date of origin.

India ranks third in research on artificial intelligence

News: India ranks third in the world in terms of high quality research publications in artificial
intelligence (AI) but is at a significant distance from world leader China, according to an analysis by
research agency Itihaasa.

Beyond News

 The agency computed the number of ‗citable documents‘ the number of research publications in
peer-reviewed journals in the field of AI between 2013-2017 as listed out by Scimago, a
compendium that tracks trends in scientific research publications.
 India, while third in the world with 12,135 documents, trailed behind China with 37, 918
documents and the United States with 32,421 documents.
 However, when parsed by another metric ‗citations‘ or the number of times an article is
referenced India ranked only fifth and trailed the United Kingdom, Canada, the U.S. and China.
 Given India‘s traditional strength in information technology and AI said to pose a transformation
in industry and academic circles, the report was an attempt at mapping the state of AI-based
research in India.
 There were only about 50 to 75 principal researchers in the AI-space in India and they were
tended to collaborate with each other. The Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian
Institutes of Information Technology were among the key centres for AI research.
 Healthcare, financial services, monsoon forecasting, retail and education were the key fields
likely to benefit from AI and the field was ―unlikely to lead‖ to a destruction of jobs a key global
concern regarding the field.
 India‘s national think-tank, the NITI Ayog, last June released a discussion paper on the
transformative potential of AI in India that said the country could add $1 trillion to its economy
through integrating AI into its economy.

January 19
General Studies-01
Chilika Lake possesses 20% of India’s seagrass
News: Chilika Lake is claimed to have 20% of India‘s seagrass distribution, which plays a vital
role in oxygen production and absorption of carbon dioxide and acts as a purifier in aquatic
ecology.
Beyond News

 Seagrass distribution has been estimated over an area of 152 sq. km, an increase from 135 sq km
in the last year. Increase in seagrass has been reported against its declining trend throughout the
world and now Chilika has 20% of India‘s seagrass.
 The seagrass area increases only when the water is clean. Seagrass will rejuvenate fishing ground
by providing nursery habitat to important fish species.
 Some of the indicators that emerged during the monitoring established the lake‘s resilient
ecosystem. The annual survey of endangered Irrawaddy dolphins conducted finds population of
aquatic mammals in the range of 130-150.

General Studies-02
21 Bangladeshi nationals deported from Assam
News: The border police in Karimganj district of Assam deported 21 Bangladeshis who had been
detained for illegally entering India.

Beyond News

 The 21 persons, two of them women, were sent back from the Sutarkandi border checkpoint after
approval from the Union Home Ministry.
 They were handed over to the Bangladeshi authorities who confirmed that they were from Syllhet
and Kishoreganj districts of the country.
 They were detained for violation of the Passport Act over the past few months and kept at the
detention camp in the Silchar Central Jail. Six of them were held in Cachar district and 11 in
Karimganj.
 In July last year, 52 Bangladeshi nationals were deported from the Mankachar sector of the
Assam-Bangladesh border. They were ―convicted foreigners‖, arrested for not possessing valid
travel documents or for cross-border crimes.

Demolish wall on elephant corridor: Supreme Court tells

Assam’s Numaligarh Refinery
News: The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal filed by Numaligarh Refinery Ltd. (NRL)
and ordered demolition of a 2.2-km boundary wall erected on an elephant migration corridor in
eastern Assam‟s Golaghat district.

Beyond News

 Environmentalists had objected to the wall the refinery had erected in 2011 for a proposed
township in as the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had observed later a part of the Deopahar
Reserve Forest.
 The refinery received flak from wildlife activists when a seven-year-old male elephant died of
haemorrhage in May 2015 after trying to force its way through the wall. Videos also captured
herds trying to cross the high boundary wall with barbed wire in vain.
 In August 2016, the NGT ordered NRL to demolish the wall within a month, but only a 289-metre
stretch was demolished.
 Dismissing the NRL‘s appeal in the apex court, Justice said there cannot be any township as
elephants have the first right on forest.

U.S. wants regular China trade reform review

News: The United States is pushing for regular reviews of China‟s progress on pledged trade
reforms as a condition for a trade deal and could again resort to tariffs if it deems Beijing has
violated the agreement, according to sources briefed on negotiations to end the trade war between the
two nations.

 A continuing threat of tariffs hanging over commerce between the world‟s two largest
economies would mean a deal would not end the risk of investing in businesses or assets that
have been impacted by the trade war.

Beyond News

 The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed import tariffs on Chinese goods
to put pressure on Beijing to meet a long list of demands that would rewrite the terms of trade
between the two countries.
 The demands include changes to China‘s policies on intellectual property protection and other
trade barriers.
 An enforcement and verification process is unusual for
trade deals and is akin to the process around punitive
economic sanctions such as those imposed on North
Korea and Iran.
 Disputes over trade are more typically dealt with
through courts, the World Trade Organization (WTO)
or through arbitration panels and other dispute
settlement mechanisms built into trade agreements.
 Trump‘s team has criticised the WTO for failing to
hold China accountable for not executing on promised market reforms. The U.S. has also
criticised the WTO‘s dispute settlement process and is seeking reforms at the organisation.

General Studies-03
Rajasthan’s State bird may be extinct soon
News: Almost two years after the Rajasthan government proposed setting up
of captive breeding centres for the Great Indian Bustards to boost their
wild population, the wildlife activists here have called for enforcement of
recovery plan for the country‟s most critically endangered bird.

Beyond News

 No progress has been made on the proposal for establishing a captive

breeding centre at Sorsan in Kota district and a hatchery in Jaisalmer‘s
Mokhala village for conservation of the State bird of Rajasthan.
 The GIB‘s last remnant wild population of about 50 in Jaisalmer district
accounts for 95% of its total world population.
 Suggested that an incubation unit be set up at Jaisalmer district‘s Sudasri considered the sanctum
sanctorum of the Desert National Park so as to step up recruitment rate of the critically
endangered species.

Japan satellite blasts into space to deliver artificial meteors

News: A rocket carrying a satellite on a mission to deliver the world‟s first artificial meteor
shower blasted into space.

Beyond News

 A start-up based in Tokyo developed the micro-satellite for the celestial show over Hiroshima
early next year as the initial experiment for what it calls a ―shooting stars on demand‖ service.
 The satellite is to release tiny balls that glow brightly as they hurtle through the atmosphere,
simulating a meteor shower.
 It hitched a ride on the small-size Epsilon-4 rocket that was launched from the Uchinoura space
centre by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
 The rocket carried a total of seven ultra-small satellites that will demonstrate various ―innovative‖
technologies, JAXA spokesman Nobuyoshi Fujimoto said.
 The company ALE Co. Ltd plans to deliver its first out-of-this-world show over Hiroshima in the
spring of 2020. The satellite carries 400 tiny balls whose chemical formula is a closely-guarded
secret. That should be enough for 20-30 events, as one shower will involve up to 20 stars,
according to the company.
 ALE‘s satellite, released 500 km above the earth, will gradually descend to 400 km over the
coming year during orbit.
 When its two satellites are in orbit, they can be used separately or in tandem, and will be
programmed to eject the balls at the right location, speed and direction to put on a show for
viewers on the ground.
 Tinkering with the ingredients in the balls should mean that it is possible to change the colours
they glow, offering the possibility of a multi-coloured flotilla of shooting stars.
 Each star is expected to shine for several seconds before being completely burned up well before
they fall low enough to pose any danger to anything on the earth.

Asteroids are smacking Earth twice as often as before

News: For the past 290 million years, large asteroids have been crashing into Earth more than
twice as often as they did in the previous 700 million years.

Findings

 Asteroids still only smack Earth on average every million or few million years, even with the
increased crash rate.
 NASA‘s list of potential big space rock crashes shows no pending major threats. The biggest
known risk is a 4,200-foot (1.3-km) wide asteroid with a
99.988 percent chance that it will miss Earth when it
whizzes very near here in 861 years.
 Compiled a list of impact craters on Earth and the moon that
were larger than 12 miles (20 km) wide and came up with
the dates of them. It takes a space rock that‘s half a mile
(800 metres) wide to create holes that big.
 The team counted 29 craters that were no older than 290 million years and nine between 291
million years and 650 million years old.
 The science team determined that the current space crash rate is 2.6 times more than the previous
700 million years.
 Scientists used impact craters on the nearby moon as a stand-in for holes between 650 million and
1 billion years old.
 The moon is a good guide for estimating Earth crashes, because it is close enough to be in the
same bombardment path and its craters last longer.

Country’s 2nd defence innovation hub to come up in

Maharashtra
News: Nashik in Maharashtra will be the site of the country‟s second defence innovation
hub after Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

Beyond News

 Defence innovation hub at Nashik will help local industries and entrepreneurs and further the
Centre‘s Make in India push in the country‘s defence sector.
 The Ministry of Defence had set a target of making the country among the top five arms exporters
by 2025.

January 20 & 21
General Studies-01
Starfish to benefit from climate change
News: Seafloor predators and open water feeding animals like the starfish and the jellyfish
will benefit from climate change, while those associated with sea ice for food or breeding are
most at risk.

Findings

 Marine Antarctic animals closely associated with sea ice for food or breeding, such as the
humpback whale and emperor penguin, are most at risk from the predicted effects of climate
change.
 Using risk assessments like those used for setting
occupational safety limits in the workplace,
scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS)
determined the winners and losers of Antarctic
climate change impact, which includes temperature
rise, sea ice reduction and changes in food
availability.
 They show that seafloor predators and open water
feeding animals, like starfish and jellyfish, will
benefit from the opening up of new habitats.
 One of the strongest signals of climate change in the Western Antarctic is the loss of sea ice,
receding glaciers and the break up of ice shelves.
 Climate change will affect shallow water first, challenging the animals who live in this habitat in
the very near future.
 The risk assessment also revealed that bottom-feeders, scavengersand predators, such as starfish,
sea urchins and worms, may gain from the effects of climate change.

UNESCO names Rio as World Capital of Architecture

News: The UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) has named the
Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro as the World Capital of Architecture for 2020.

Beyond News

 Having defeated Paris and Melbourne, Rio will be the first city to receive the title under a
programme launched together by UNESCO and the International Union of Architects (UIA) in
November 2018.
 The World Capital of Architecture initiative underscores the common commitment of UNESCO
and the UIA to preserve architectural heritage in the urban context.
 Through the range and quality of its activities,
the World Capital of Architecture in Rio de
Janeiro will demonstrate the crucial role of
architecture and culture in sustainable urban
development.
 According to UNESCO, the World Capital of
Architecture is intended to become ―an
international forum for debates about pressing
global challenges from the perspectives of
culture, cultural heritage, urban planning and
architecture‖.
 As one of the oldest cities in Brazil, Rio has a
mix of modern and colonial architecture, with world-renowned sites like the statue of Christ the
Redeemer and contemporary constructions like the Museum of Tomorrow.
 The city is also home to works of renowned architects such as Oscar Niemeyer, who also
designed the capital city of Brasilia.

General Studies-02
Centre to soon take up linking of Godavari and Cauvery: Gadkari
News: The Centre would soon take up a major project to link rivers Godavari and Cauvery that
would resolve water issues between four southern states.

Beyond News

 The objective of the project, expected to cost upto ₹60,000 crore, was to make good use of about
1100 tmc ft of Godavari water that currently drained into the sea, he said, addressing a meeting of
BJP workers here.
 The Godavari water would thus be taken to the tail end of Tamil
 A special technology, suggested by a US-based AP engineer, of using steel pipes would be used
for linking Godavari and Cauvery.
 Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have been locked in a dispute over sharing of the Cauvery river water
for decades.

Plastic waste imports to India go up: report

News: Government and industry estimates suggest that India consumes about 13 million tonnes of
plastic and recycles only about 4 million tonnes.

Beyond News

 A lack of an efficient waste segregation system and inadequate collection is the root cause,
according to experts, for much of the plastic not making its way to recycling centres.
 To incentivise domestic plastic recycling units, the government had banned the import of plastic
waste, particularly PET bottles in 2015.
 In 2016, an amendment allowed such imports as long as they were carried out by agencies
situated in Special Economic Zones. It‘s this loophole that‘s been exploited.

General Studies-03
Nepal’s central bank announces ban of Indian notes above ₹100
News: Nepal‟s central bank has banned the use of Indian currency notes of ₹2,000, ₹500 and
₹200 denominations, a move that could affect Indian tourists visiting the Himalayan nation where
Indian currency is widely used.

Beyond News

 Nepal Rastra Bank issued a circular prohibiting Nepali travellers, banks and financial institutions
from holding or carrying and trading Indian bank notes higher than ₹100.
 The central bank said in its circular stated that Indian currency of 200, 500 and 2,000
denominations cannot be carried and used for trading.
 Under the new regulation, Nepali citizens cannot carry these denominations to countries other
than India. Similarly, Nepalis are also not allowed to bring such notes from other countries. Indian
notes of ₹100 or below, however, are allowed for trading and conversion, the bank‘s circular
reads.
 On December 13 last year, the Cabinet had decided to publish the notification in
the Nepal Gazette not to allow people to carry Indian currency notes above ₹100 denominations
in Nepal.
 The ban has been criticised by travel traders and entrepreneurs, saying that it would hurt the
country‘s burgeoning tourism at a time when the government has announced ‗Visit Nepal‘
campaign with an objective to draw at least 2 million tourists in 2020.
 The overland Indian visitors‘ survey showed that 1.2 million Indians came to Nepal through the
surface route while 160,132 travelled via air. The average length of stay of Indian tourists coming
overland was 5.8 days. Average expenditure per visitor was as much as ₹11,310, the paper said.
 The Indian government introduced new banknotes of ₹2,000, ₹500 and ₹200 denominations after
the demonetisation of old notes worth ₹500 and ₹1,000 in 2016. However, the move hit countries
such as Nepal and Bhutan where Indian currency is widely used.
Super blood wolf moon: Total lunar eclipse meets supermoon on
January 20 night
News: The moon, Earth and sun will line up this weekend for the only total lunar eclipse this year
and next.

 At the same time, the moon will be ever so closer to Earth and appear slightly bigger and brighter
than usual a supermoon.

Beyond News

 The whole eclipse starts on January 20 night or early January 21, depending on location , and will
take about three hours.
 If the skies are clear, the entire eclipse will be visible in North and South America, as well as
Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Portugal and the French and Spanish
coasts.
 The rest of Europe, as well as Africa, will have partial viewing before the moon sets. Some places
will be livestreaming it, including the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.
 During totality, the moon will look red because of sunlight scattering off Earth‟s atmosphere.
That‘s why an eclipsed moon is sometimes known as a blood moon.
 As for full-moon supermoons, this will be the first of three this year. The upcoming supermoon
will be about 222,000 miles (357,300 kilometres) away.

This super-Earth exoplanet may harbour alien life

News: The recently discovered cold super-Earth exoplanet orbiting around the red dwarf Barnard –
the second closest star system to Earth – has the potential to harbour primitive life.

Findings

 Barnard b (or GJ 699 b) is a super-Earth with a minimum of 3.2 Earth masses. It orbits its red
star every 233 days near the snow-line, a distance where water freezes.
 Although likely cold (-170 degrees centigrade), it could still have the potential to harbour
primitive life if it has a large, hot iron or nickel core and enhanced geothermal activity, said
researchers.
 Geothermal heating could support ‗life zones‘ under its surface, akin to subsurface lakes found in
Antarctica.

India to train 45 countries in nano satellite making

News: India will train 45 countries in nano-satellite making through a new capacity building
programme, a top space official said.

Beyond News

 The programme named Unispace Nanosatellite Assembly and Training by ISRO (UNNATI)
was flagged off in this space hub.
 The programme allows India to share its knowledge and expertise in space sector to other
countries that can benefit from it, a gathering of international delegates and ISRO officials at the
U.R. Rao Satellite Centre.
The first batch of the initiative, which was kicked off, will have 30 participants from 17 countries,
including Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan,
Malaysia, Mexico and Mongolia.

India’s richest 1% get richer by 39% in 2018; just 3% rise for

bottom-half: Oxfam
News: Indian billionaires saw their fortunes swell by ₹ 2,200 crore a day last year, with the top 1 per
cent of the country‘s richest getting richer by 39 per cent as against just 3 per cent increase in wealth
for the bottom-half of the population.

Findings

 Globally, billionaires‘ fortunes rose by 12 per cent or $ 2.5 billion a day in 2018, whereas the
poorest half of the world‘s population saw their wealth decline by 11 per cent.
 6 crore Indians, who make up the poorest 10 per cent of the country, continued to remain in debt
since 2004.
 Noting that wealth is becoming even more concentrated, Oxfam said 26 people now own the same
as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity, down from 44 people last
year.
 India‘s top 10 per cent of the population holds 77.4 per cent of the total national wealth. The
contrast is even sharper for the top 1 per cent that holds 51.53 per cent of the national wealth.
 The bottom 60 per cent, the majority of the population, own merely 4.8 per cent of the national
wealth. Wealth of top 9 billionaires is equivalent to the wealth of the bottom 50 per cent of the
population,Oxfam said while noting that high level of wealth disparity subverts democracy.
 Between 2018 and 2022, India is estimated to produce 70 new dollar millionaires every day.
 According to the Oxfam report, India added 18 new billionaires last year, raising the total number
of billionaires to 119, while their wealth crossed the $ 400 billion (₹ 28 lakh crore) mark for the
first time.
 It rose from $ 325.5 billion in 2017 to $ 440.1 billion in 2018, making it the single largest annual
increase since the 2008 global financial crisis.
 Oxfam further said getting India‘s richest 1 per cent pay just 0.5 per cent extra tax on their wealth
could raise enough money enough to increase the government spending on health by 50 per cent.

January 22
General Studies-01

Climate ‘time bomb’ for groundwater is

ticking
News: Future generations face an environmental ―time bomb‖ as
the world‟s groundwater systems take decades to respond to
the present day impact of climate change, scientists warned.
Findings

 Groundwater is the largest useable source of freshwater on the planet and more than two billion
people rely on it to drink or irrigate crops.
 It is slowly replenished through rainfall a process known as recharge and discharges into lakes,
rivers or oceans to maintain an overall balance between water in and water out.
 Groundwater reserves are already under pressure as the global population explodes and crop
production rises in lockstep.
 But the extreme weather events such as drought and record rainfall both made worse by our
heating planet could have another long-lasting impact on how quickly reserves replenish.
 An international team of researchers used computer modelling of groundwater datasets to put a
timescale on how reserves may respond to the changing climate.
 Found that only half of all groundwater supplies are likely to fully replenish or re-balance within
the next 100 years — potentially leading to shortages in drier areas.
 This could be described as an environmental time bomb because any climate change impacts on
recharge occurring now, will only fully impact the baseflow to rivers and wetlands a long time
later.
 The process through which rainwater is filtered through bedrock and accumulated underground
can take centuries and varies greatly by region.

General Studies-02
Indian citizenship won’t be given without state govt’s consent
after passage of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill: MHA
News: Indian citizenship would not be granted to any foreigner without the consent of state
governments concerned after the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the Home Ministry
said.

Beyond News

 Every application for Indian citizenship will be enquired into by the deputy commissioner or
district magistrate concerned, who will carry out due diligence and submit it to the state
government concerned.
 The state government also has to conduct an enquiry through its agencies. Only then, an
individual will be granted Indian nationality. Without the state government‘s recommendations,
no one will be given Indian citizenship.
 The Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019, being strongly opposed by a large section of people and
organisations in the Northeast, seeks to provide Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities
Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after
they have stayed in India for seven years, instead of 12 years at present. This is applicable to those
who came to India before December 31, 2014.
 The six religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were earlier given a
special dispensation for grant of long term visas.
 People belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhism, Jain, Parsi and Christian religions from Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Afghanistan will have to prove they belonged to any of the three countries and were
persecuted on religious lines among other things for Indian citizenship.
 Home Ministry sources said the ministry is considering a proposal to provide incentives to those
people who want to settle anywhere in India, except the Northeast.

Andhra Pradesh Cabinet clears 5% quota each for Kapus,

economically backward people
News: In a move that will have far-reaching political implications, the Andhra Pradesh State
Cabinet decided to give 5% quota for Kapus and another 5% to the economically backward
classes among the forward castes.

Beyond News

 The Cabinet also resolved to pay out ₹250 crore as advance towards compensation to the victims
of the AgriGold scam and to file a memo to that effect in the High Court, under whose direction
the properties of the defunct company are being auctioned.
 The State Cabinet is likely to roll out Rythu Raksha scheme, on the lines of Rythu Bandhu being
implemented in Telangana, for providing input assistance to farmers at the rate of ₹10,000 per
acre. It was discussing the modalities till late in the night.
 It also contemplated providing cellphones to all DWCRA group members and credit ₹10,000 into
the bank account of each member of the thrift groups, but has not given its final nod yet. This
scheme is expected to benefit 94 lakh DWCRA members in the State.
 Cabinet resolved to abolish life tax paid on autorickshaws and tractors. With this, tax need not be
paid except at the time of purchase of the vehicles. This will benefit 9.79 lakh owners (farmers
and self-employed youth) of autorickshaws and tractors.
 The Cabinet also decided to sanction ₹60,000 per unit to 1,26,097 houses grounded without prior
sanction from June 2014. It entails an expenditure of ₹756 crore.

‘Bihar outgrew others in FY18 GDP’

News: Bihar and Andhra Pradesh led the pack among States in terms of GDP growth in
financial year 2017-18, clocking 11.3% and 11.2% growth, respectively, compared with the national
GDP growth of 6.7% for the year.

Findings

 According to the report, 12 of the 17 general category States grew faster than the national growth
rate.
 However, this growth was not equitable, with the gap between the per capita incomes in low-
income and high-income States widening over the last five years.
 In fiscal 2018, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat were top-rankers in terms of GSDP growth
among the 17 non-special States considered in our analysis, the report said. Jharkhand, Kerala,
and Punjab were at the bottom.
 The analysis found that between the financial years 2012-13
and 2016-17, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka were the
fastest growing states, on average.
 While all three managed to maintain their GSDP growth higher
than the all-India GDP growth in 2018, only Gujarat remained
in the top three. Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka both saw their
rankings slip to 9 and 4, respectively.
 On the fiscal front, the report noted that most veered off the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget
Management Act (FRBM) line of maintaining their fiscal deficits at 3% of their respective state
GDPs.
 Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh topped the tally in proportion of capex in state spending
in the past three years. But most states are not spending as they ought to, in areas such as health,
irrigation, and education.
 The combined fiscal deficit of States crossed the 3% of GSDP threshold, in both fiscals 2016 and
2017. This improved in fiscal 2018 to 3.1%, but this was still higher than the FRBM limit, and
also the 2.7% of GSDP budgeted for the year, the report noted.
 A larger impact is expected on fiscal and revenue deficit to gross state domestic product ratios for
Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Rajasthan, among non-special category States, in FY20.

General Studies-03
19 mphibian species are critically endangered: ZSI list
News: An updated list of Indian amphibians was released on the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)
website last week, with 19 species being treated as critically endangered and 33 species as
endangered.

Beyond News

 Since 2009, the scientists of the ZSI in collaboration with other institutes have been updating the
Indian amphibian checklist periodically. In 2009, the total number of species listed was 284. In
2010 it was 311, in 2011 it was 314, in 2012 and 2013 it was 342, in 2015 it was 384 and in 2017
it was 405 species.‖
 The list also notes if the species are in danger, according to the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
 The current list bears the names of 432 amphibian species from India, the year of discovery and
their IUCN ‗red list‘ conservation status.
 Among the amphibians listed, 19 species are treated as critically endangered and 33 species as
endangered, the list describes 19% of amphibians as data deficient species and 39% as not
assessed by the IUCN.
 It is high time that we assess the IUCN status for the Indian ‗not assessed‘ amphibians (169
species) based on species-specific field exploration.

Indigenous flora in Chennai wetlands under threat

News: Nearly half of the native plant species in the city‘s wetlands have been wiped out in recent
years, indicative of the degradation of wetlands,
finds a study .

Findings

 Retteri or Madhavaram lake and Pallikaranai

marshland are among the worst affected
wetlands in the city. About 60% of the plant
species have been overrun by invasive
speciesin the past two years.
 The study observed the native plant species found in the wetlands for two years.
 According to the study, the indigenous species are being replaced by invasive and destructive
ones. The rapid depletion in indigenous aquatic plants would prove detrimental to the functions of
the wetlands. The decline in indigenous flora would also have indirect implication on food and
nutrition security.
 Identifying the invaders and using species-specific methods to remove them periodically could
mitigate the depletion of native plant species from the wetlands. Reintroducing native species in
vulnerable habitats could also help.

January 23
General Studies-01
Greenland ice melts four times faster in a decade: study
News: Greenland‟s melting ice, which causes sea levels to rise, disappeared four times faster in
2013 than in 2003 and is noticeable across the Arctic island, not just on glaciers, researchers warned.

Findings

 While 111 cubic kilometres of ice disappeared

per year in 2003, 10 years later this figure had
almost quadrupled to 428 cubic km.
 Until now, most of Greenland‘s ice melt was
observed on the ice cap, predominantly on the
glaciers in the island‘s northwest and
southeast. But most of the ice loss from 2003
to 2013 was from Greenland‘s southwest
region, which is largely devoid of large glaciers.
 The ice now appeared to be melting from the surface mass, ―melting inland from the coastline.‖
 That means that in the southwestern part of Greenland, growing rivers of water are streaming into
the ocean.
 The melting ice observed in the study is caused by rising land temperatures, and in part, the fact
that the ice comes into contact with waters that are increasingly warmer.
 As the atmosphere‘s temperature gradually rises, immediately notice an acceleration of the ice
melt.

General Studies-02
States put on high alert as swine flu cases spike across the
country
News: With 49 swine flu deaths and 1,694 cases reported in just one fortnight from January 1-13 as
per data released by the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), several States are on
alert.
Beyond News

 Rajasthan alone has reported 31 deaths in this period with other instances being reported from
Delhi, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Prdaesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
 While the Rajasthan health department has reported that the number of cases in the State has
crossed 1,000 with more than 200 people having died in the past 13 months, the Union Health
Ministry has said that there is no cause for panic and that the situation is being closely monitored.
 H1N1 influenza (or swine flu) is a highly contagious acute respiratory disease of pigs caused by
type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs. Swine flu viruses do
not normally infect humans. However, sporadic human infections with swine flu have occurred.
Most commonly, these cases occur in people with direct exposure to pigs (e.g., children near pigs
at a fair or workers in the swine industry). However, there have been cases of human-to-human
spread of swine flu.
 Children younger than five years old and adults who are 65 years and above, patients with chronic
pulmonary condition (including asthma), , neurological, neuromuscular or metabolic disorders
(including diabetes), obese adults and pregnant women are in the high risk group.

Cabinet gives nod to set up GST Appellate Tribunal

News: The Union Cabinet approved the creation of a National Bench of the Goods and Services
Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT), which would serve as the forum of second appeals to do with the
applicability of GST, and will also be the first common forum of dispute resolution between the
Centre and the States.

Beyond News

 The National Bench of the Appellate Tribunal, to be situated in New Delhi, will be presided over
by its president. It will consist of a technical member from the Centre and a representative of the
States.
 Chapter XVIII of the CGST Act provides for an appeal and review mechanism for dispute
resolution under the GST regime.
 Section 109 of this chapter empowers the Centre to constitute, on the recommendation of the GST
Council, an appellate tribunal for hearing appeals against the orders passed by the Appellate
Authority.
 The creation of the National Bench would involve a one-time expenditure of ₹92.50 lakh, the
government said.
 While typically not many litigations should have been adjudicated, still early formation of this
Appellate Authority would help prevent any unwarranted delays in the adjudication of appeals to
be filed in the future.

Cabinet decides to strengthen Northeast autonomous councils

News: The Union Cabinet approved a Constitutional amendment to increase the financial and
executive powers of the 10 autonomous councils in the Sixth Schedule areas of the northeast.

Beyond News

 The amendment would impact a population of about 1 crore tribals living in Assam, Meghalaya,
Tripura and Mizoram, according to the Centre.
 The Finance Commission would be mandated to recommend devolution of financial resources to
the councils. Till now, the autonomous councils have depended on grants from Central Ministries
and the State governments for specific projects.
 As per the proposed amendment, at least one third of the seats would be reserved for women in
the village and municipal councils in the Sixth Schedule areas of Assam, Mizoram and Tripura.
 The amendment also provides for transfer of additional 30 subjects including departments of
Public Works, Forests, Public Health Engineering, Health and Family Welfare, Urban
Development and Food and Civil Supply to Karbi Anglong Autonomous Territorial Council and
Dima Hasao Autonomous Territorial Council in Assam.
 The proposed amendments provide for elected village municipal councils, ensuring democracy at
the grass-roots level.
 The village councils would be empowered to prepare plans for economic development and social
justice including those related to agriculture, land improvement, implementation of land reforms,
minor irrigation, water management, animal husbandry, rural electrification, small scale industries
and social forestry.
 The State Election Commissions would hold elections to the autonomous councils, village and
municipal councils in the areas of Assam, Mizoram and There would be a provision for anti-
defection too.
 Meghalaya has for the time being opted out of the provision for elected village and municipal
councils and one-third reservation for women.

Ministry notifies new CRZ norms

News: The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest released the Coastal Regulation Zone
(CRZ), 2019 notification, opening up the coastline of the country for construction and tourism
activities.

Beyond News

 The new notification could result in reduction of No Development Zones (NDZ) significantly.
This may pave the way for a construction boom along the coastline.
 The tourism sector is to benefit from the relaxation of the NDZ. Tourism activities could be
undertaken in the designated areas to be identified by the State and included in their respective
Coastal Zone Management Plan.
 Most of the recommendations of an expert committee, which looked into the concerns of coastal
States and various stakeholders, relating to the CRZ, 2011 notification were incorporated in the
new notification, according CRZ experts.
 The notification has classified the CRZ 3 areas (land areas that are relatively undisturbed and
those which do not fall under CRZ 2) into CRZ 3A and 3B based on the density of population.
Areas with a population density of 2,161 persons or more per sq km, as in the 2011 census, will
be become CRZ 3A and construction activities could be undertaken towards the landward side
from the 50-metre point of the High Tide Line (HTL).
 All other CRZ-3 areas with population density of less than 2,161 persons per sq km will be
designated as CRZ-3 B and development activities will be permitted beyond the 200-metre-mark
from the HTL towards the landward side.
 The notification has covered all the backwater islands and islands along the mainland coast and a
uniform NDZ of 20 metres from the HTL towards the landward side has been put in place.
 All the coastal States with such islands will prepare Integrated Island Management Plans and get
them approved by the Ministry. The 2019 notification will come into force in these islands only
when the Plan is framed.

General Studies-03
Tiger protection forces mooted
News: Telangana State government has decided to constitute a special tiger protection force for
protection of big cats in both its sanctuaries.

Beyond News

 A meeting of the state level Forest Protection Committee has taken a decision. Accordingly,
special forces will be constituted with 112 members, under the leadership of officers of the cadre
of Assistant Conservators of Forest in both Amrabad and Kawal tiger reserves.
 Each team will have three range officers, 81 guards, and 26 forest watchers. Expenditure for
maintenance of the teams will be distributed between Central and State governments in the ratio
of 60:40. The committee has also stamped its approval on the proposal to release ₹2.25 crore for
measures to prevent forest fires.
 It was also decided to prepare an integrated plan for protection of forests with coordination among
various departments.
 Police will chip in wherever task force raids and removal of encroachment from forest lands are
needed. A proposal is being studied for police outposts in sensitive locations as per the Forest
department‘s request.

Landslides, flooding kill 8 in central Indonesia

News: Torrential rains overwhelmed a dam and caused landslidesthat killed at least eight people
and displaced more than 2,000 in central

Beyond News

 Rescuers were evacuating residents to shelters at

a government office and mosques.
 The national disaster agency said four people are
missing and more than 2,000 were in temporary
shelters. It said nine districts including Makassar
were affected.
 Staff at the Bili Bili dam, a rock-fill
embankment, didn‘t have time to provide
advance warning of the water release.
 Torrential rain caused a dam to be overwhelmed
by water, forcing us to open it to prevent a greater danger. This is what caused flooding in some
areas.
 Deadly landslides and floods are a frequent occurrence during seasonal rains in Indonesia. A
landslide in Sukabumi on the main island of Java earlier this month killed 32 people.
 The death toll could rise as areas hit by landslides are still being searched. Several bridges were
damaged by the flooding and power cut off in affected areas.
 January 24
General Studies-02
Cabinet approves India-Kuwait pact on domestic workers
News: The Union Cabinet approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
between India and Kuwait for cooperation on the recruitment of domestic workers.

Beyond News

 The move is likely to benefit around 3 lakh Indian workers deployed in Kuwait, including about
90,000 female domestic workers.
 The MoU provides a structured framework for cooperation on domestic workers related matters
and provides strengthened safeguards for Indian domestic workers including female workers
deployed in Kuwait.
 The MoU is initially valid for a period of five years and incorporates provision for automatic
renewal. Under this MoU, a joint committee will also be set up to follow up the implementation.
 The government said this will promote bilateral cooperation in domestic workers-related matters
between the two countries.

‘India spurs global growth in public funding for neglected

disease R&D’
News: Indian public funding for research and development (R&D) in neglected diseases
increased significantly in 2017, growing by ₹135 crore or 38%, contributing to the strongest global
growth since 2009.

Findings

 Worldwide funding for neglected diseaseR&D in 2017 reached its highest level ever, exceeding
$3.5 billion, according to the 11th annual G-FINDER report released in Geneva. At that level,
funding was up 7% since 2016, driven primarily by new investments from the U.K., the European
Commission, Germany and India.
 The G-FINDER report on global investments in R&D to tackle neglected infectious diseases
released by the Policy Cures Research is a comprehensive report offering an up-to-date analysis
of how R&D investments are being allocated across diseases and product types, funding trends
over time, and where gaps lie.
 For India the report also found that ―for
the first time Indian Council
of Medical Research(ICMR) has been
placed in the top four largest funders
for R&D in tuberculosis with a $6
million or 47% increase in
investment.‖ Also leprosy funding
increased by $2 million (up 47%),
entirely driven by the ICMR.
 The U.S. government retained the top spot as the world‘s largest public funder, providing an
additional 1.5% ($23 million) for a total of $1.6 billion.
 The public sector continued to be the most significant funding source for neglected disease
research, contributing almost two-thirds of the total.
 Public funding from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) increased by 19 % with India
contributing nearly three-quarters of this total.
 The Indian government increased its contribution by 38% maintaining its position as the fourth-
largest public funder globally, and providing the highest reported level of public funding from an
LMIC government.

Now, an app to help the visually impaired

News: In a bid to assist visually impaired people to easily determine denomination of currency
notes, the Indian Institute of Technology at Ropar in Punjab has developed an Android App
―Roshni‖, using image processing and analytics.

 Earlier the visually impaired persons, differentiated the currencies based on the length and width
of the note. But after demonetisation it became very difficult for them to identify the
denomination, due to similarity in the sizes of new and old notes. Also, for those individuals who
lost their vision due to old age or some other conditions, ‗Roshni‘ will be very beneficial.

General Studies-03
India conducts coastal security drill
News: Ten years after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, India conducted its largest coastal defence
drill, Exercise Sea Vigil, to test its preparedness along the entire 7,516.6 km-long-coastline and
exclusive economic zone of the country.

Beyond News

 The first of its kind exercise was conducted on January 22 and 23 and coordinated by the Navy.
 Exercise Sea Vigil aims to comprehensively and holistically validate the efficacy of the measures
taken since 26/11. It aims to simultaneously activate the coastal security mechanism across all 13
coastal States and Union Territories.
 This involves the evaluation of critical areas and processes, including inter-agency coordination,
information sharing and technical surveillance.
 ―In an effort to test the preparedness and coordination, some rogue elements tried to breach the
surveillance network and reach the coast during the exercise.
 Post 26/11, the Navy was designated as the agency responsible for overall maritime security,
including offshore and coastal security, while the Coast Guard was designated as the agency
responsible for coastal security in territorial waters.
 A multi-tiered patrol and surveillance mechanism with focus on technical surveillance and
augmenting Maritime Domain Awareness through the coastal radar chain was adopted.
 Progress has been made in real-time information sharing through the National Command Control
Communication and Intelligence (NC3I) Network and improving intelligence and operational
coordination.
 However, several measures are still in the implementation stage even after a decade.
Cleaning water using bacteria
News: Researchers have developed a new technology that can clean water twice as fast as
commercially available ultrafiltration membranes, an advance that brings hope for countries like
India where clean drinking water is a big issue.

Beyond News

 The team developed an ultrafiltration membrane using graphene oxide and bacterial nanocellulose
that they found to be highly efficient, long-lasting and environment-friendly.
 The membrane technology purifies water while preventing biofouling, or buildup of bacteria and
other harmful micro-organisms that reduce the flow of water.
 They exposed the membrane to E. coli bacteria, then shone light on the membrane‘s surface.
 If the technique were to be scaled up to a large size, it could benefit many developing countries
where clean water is scarce, the researchers noted.

NGT seeks report on solid waste management

News: Concerned over the lack of action pertaining to the compliance of solid waste
management across the country, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has summoned the Chief
Secretaries of all States and Union Territories from March 1 onwards.

Beyond News

 A Bench has directed the Chief Secretaries to be present before the tribunal with status reports of
action taken and the subsequent measures to be adopted.
 According to the World Bank, India‘s daily waste generations will reach 3,77,000 tonnes by 2025.
Unless the problem is tackled, its impact on health and lives of citizens can be devastating.It is
high time stern measures are taken not only by those in charge of administering law themselves
but also by educating and involving public at large.
 Further, all States and union territories have been directed to constitute special task forces in
every district, and Information Education and Communication (IEC) programmes have been
suggested for public awareness.
 States have also been asked to display their progress reports on the websites of pollution control
boards.

January 25
General Studies-02
India, South Africa seal partnership deal
News: India and South Africa agreed on a three-year strategic
partnership agreement to boost relations.
 The agreement, signed during the visit of President Cyril Ramaphosa, will cover defence and
security, blue economy cooperation and sustainable development.

Beyond News

 At the end of the delegation-level talks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the scope for
cooperation.
 India also invited South Africa to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and congratulated it
on securing the non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council for 2019-20.
 A joint statement acknowledged the growing interaction between the Navies of the two countries,
and the Indian leader welcomed the South African participation in the India-Africa Field Training
Exercise next March.

The statement reiterated the role of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) that ensures freedom
of navigation by keeping sea lanes free and secure.

Now, Donald Trump wants India to cut duties on American

whisky
News: S. President Donald Trump has said he struck a “very fair deal” with India by making it
cut the tariffs on the iconic motorcycle Harley-Davidson by half in just about two minutes, but
rued the “high” Indian duties on American whisky.

Beyond News

 India last year slashed the customs duty on imported motorcycles like Harley-Davidson to 50 per
cent after Trump called it ―unfair‖ and threatened to increase the tariffon import of Indian bikes to
the U.S.
 At a White House event on the Reciprocal Trade Act, Mr. Trump flashed out a green colour board
with examples of non-reciprocal tariffs from various countries.
 Trump, however, pointed out to the high tariff by India on import of wines.
 The Reciprocal Trade Act, which Mr. Trump was expected to highlight in his now-delayed State
of the Union address, would give him authority to levy tariffs equal to those of a foreign country
on a particular product if that country‘s tariffs are determined to be significantly lower than those
charged by the United States.
 It would also allow Mr. Trump to take into account non-tariff barriers when determining such
tariffs. Mr. Trump alleged that many countries all over the world has taken advantage of the US.
 Trump said the Reciprocal Trade Act would help to solve the problem once and for all.
 The Reciprocal Trade Act will be an incredible tool to bring foreign countries to the negotiating
table and to get them to lower tariffs on US products and also to get rid of their trade barriers.
America cannot lose almost $800 billion on trade like has been done for many years.

Broadcast advertisement rates hiked

News: Ahead of the election, the government has increased the advertisement rates it offers to
private television channels.

 The decision will mean an increase of 11% for most channels.

Beyond News

 The last increase was effected in 2017, and the one before in 2012.
 Sources in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said the hike did not follow any schedule.
 Differential rates will be offered to news and non-news channels, depending on their reach.
 The fiat comes days after the Centre raised by 25% the rates at which the Bureau of Outreach and
Communication releases its advertisements to print media.
 The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has taken a decision to revise the advertisement rates
offered by BOC to private TV channels.
 The revision would lead to an increase of 11% over the 2017 rates for most private television
channels and it could be even higher for some others, depending upon their reach and ratings.
 The decision would also make it easier for television channels to be empanelled with the BOC to
take advantage of the higher rates.

General Studies-03
China clones gene-edited monkeys for sleep disorder research
News: Chinese scientists have made clones of a gene-edited macaque to aid research of circadian
rhythm disorders that are linked to sleep problems, depression and Alzheimer‟s disease.

Beyond News

 It was the first time multiple clones had been made from a gene-edited monkey for
biomedical research. The clones were born at the Institute of Neuroscience at the China
Academy of Sciences in Shanghai.
 A gene-edited monkey most prone to the disorder was selected as a donor, and its fibroblasts were
used to make five cloned monkeys.
 The clones would pave the way for more research into such problems in humans, which have
become a major mental health concern.
 The cloned monkeys already show signs of ―negative behaviour‖, including sleep disorders, as
well as elevated levels of anxiety and ―schizophrenia-like behaviours‖.

ISRO tastes first success of 2019, places military satellite

Microsat-R in orbit
News: Under a starry night and a waning gibbous moon, ISRO‟s PSLV C-44 broke the silence over
a brimming Pulicat lake as it lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, to successfully
place in orbit military satellite Microsat-R.

Beyond News

 The mission, with a modified PSLV with just

dual strap-on motors (PSLV-DL), marked
another first for ISRO – it provided an
alternative to its normal six strap-on motors.
This will enable the rocket to carry slightly
higher payloads than its Core-Alone version.
 Towards the end of the first stage, the rocket‘s plumes were white with its tail end burning bright
red even as a large flock of birds passed on the horizon. A second later, as the rocket soared
further into the night sky, the second stage ignition burned a bright orange propelling the rocket
ahead.
 Microsat-R was placed in orbit 13 and-a-half minutes after lift-off. It is the first time an Indian
satellite was being placed by ISRO in a low orbit at an altitude of 274 km.
 ISRO also used this launch as an opportunity to demonstrate the usability of the fourth stage of
the rocket after the satellites are ejected into orbit.
 The fourth stage used to just become yet another piece of space debris. However, ISRO has found
a way to make use of this stage with student satellite Kalamsat, made by Space Kidz India,
weighing just 1.26kg, attached to it.
 Another innovation is making the fourth stage an experimental platform to do technology
demonstrations and carrying out science experiments by students.
 This would enable any agency that wants to conducts experiments in space to use the fourth stage
till it disintegrates naturally. The fourth stage may be orbiting in space for six months to a year.
ISRO is aiming to use this time-frame to enable agencies to run short time experiments.

January 26
General Studies-01
Plants might start absorbing lesser CO2
News: Today, plants and soil around the world absorb roughly a quarter of the greenhouse
gases that humans release into the atmosphere, helping the Earth avoid some of the worst
effects of climate change.

 In an ideal situation, as levels of carbon dioxide increased, plants would soak up more of these
emissions, helping to fuel their growth.

Findings

 But in a study, researchers found that under a warming

climate, rather than absorbing more greenhouse gas
emissions, plants and soil may start absorbing less,
accelerating the rate of change.
 When the soil is dry, plants are stressed and cannot
absorb as much CO2 to perform photosynthesis.
 At the same time, because dry conditions are often
accompanied by warm temperatures, microorganisms in
the soil, which are more productive when it‘s warm,
release more CO2.
 As the climate changes, scientists know that there will be
more years of extreme weather. That means extreme droughts, followed by years of heavier than
normal rainfall, will become more likely.
 General Studies-02
Pakistan eases visa rules to boost tourism
News: Pakistan has announced plans to ease visa restrictions for tourists from 90 countries,
including the U.S. and Europe, in a bid to revive its tourism sector, decimated by years of
negligence and problems with militants.

Beyond News

 Cabinet Minister pledged authorities would do everything possible to ensure the safety of
visiting tourists.
 Cabinet Minister said citizens of 175 countries will be able to obtain visas electronically. Visitors
from 50 countries will be able to get their visas on arrival.
 Pakistan has K-2, the world‘s second-highest mountain, scenic valleys and beautiful deserts but
its tourism has suffered because of violence.

Maldives sees no reason for military ties beyond India

News: India has always been there to help the Maldives and so the nation‟s government doesn‟t
see any reason for military cooperation with any other country, Defence Minister Mariya Ahmed
Didi said.

Beyond News

 Talking of defence cooperation, Maldives Defence Minister welcomed the presence of Indian
helicopters that were there for humanitarian assistance especially as the Maldives had a lot of
islands and extreme weather in which helicopters were often the only mode of viable transport.
 The Maldives has started using the helicopters gifted by India that had been grounded during the
previous government‘s reign in the island nation.
 Maldives Defence Minister also confirmed that the two countries were holding discussions for a
Dornier aircraft which would be used for search and rescue and surveillance.
 India had gifted two Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) in 2013, one operated by the Indian
Coast Guard and the other by the Indian Navy.
 Last year, the Maldives government had refused to extend the visas of Indian military personnel
after their validity had expired and asked India to take back the helicopters.
 The bilateral relationship had turned frosty after the Maldives started moving closer to China
during President Abdulla Yameen‘s tenure and worsened when an emergency was declared by
Mr. Yameen.
 However, relations have been normalised since the new government headed by President Ibrahim
Mohamed Solih took over in November following the country‘s elections.
 Maldives Defence Minister held bilateral discussions with her counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman
during which India reiterated its commitment to contribute towards capacity building and the
training requirements of the Maldives National Defence Forces.

SC upholds bankruptcy code, cites improved financial flows

News: In a whoop of victory for credits markets and entrepreneurship, the Supreme Court upheld
the constitutionality of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), saying the law sends a clear
message that India is no longer ―the defaulter‘s paradise‖.

Beyond News

 The Code consolidates disparate bankruptcy and insolvency laws of the past under one umbrella.
The judgment authored by Justice Nariman termed these past laws as ―trials which led to repeated
errors‖.
 The IBC, on the other hand, adopts a two-pronged approach. It provides a time-bound resolution
mechanism, aimed at protecting the maximum value of the assets of the corporate debtor. It also,
while doing so, promotes entrepreneurship and credit markets.
 The court noted that the working of the Code is being
monitored by the Centre through expert committees. The Code
is constantly evolving, bettering itself.
 It said the liquidation value of 63 of the 80 cases resolved
through the acceptance of resolution plans was Rs. 29,788.07
crore. But the amount realised from the resolution process was
Rs. 60,000 crore, that is, 202% higher than the liquidation
value.
 The court noted that IBC has witnessed an improvement in the
total flow of resources to the commercial sector, both bank
and non-bank, and domestic and foreign (relatable to the non-
food sector), has gone up from a total of Rs. 14,530.47 crore in 2016-2017 to Rs. 18,469.25 crore
in 2017- 2018 to Rs. 18,798.20 crore in the first six months of 2018-2019.

General Studies-03
61 mn people affected by extreme weather events in 2018: UN
Report
News: Earthquakes and tsunamis accounted for most of the 10,373 lives lost in disasters last year,
while extreme weather events accounted for most of 61.7 million people affected by natural
hazards, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) said at a press conference.

Beyond News

 No part of the globe was spared from the impact of extreme weather events last year.
 Floods, droughts, and wildfires affected 57.3 mn people.
 The country most affected by disasters was India, where there were 23.9 mn people hit, followed
by the Philippines with almost 6.5 mn people impacted, and then China with 6.4 mn affected.
Troublesome tusker sent back to forest
News: Rogue tusker Chinnathambi, named thus by local residents, has been wreaking havoc in the
Thadagam Valley near Coimbatore in Tamil
Nadu , with several raids on agricultural fields.

 Tusker was tranquillised and moved

out, bringing relief to farmers.

Beyond News

 The five-hour operation was code-named

‗Chinnathambi Gaja Yatra‟, referring to the plan to get him back to the forest, just as his
companion, christened Vinayagan, was moved to Mudumalai 40 days ago.
 The job was accomplished with the help of four ‗kumkis‘ (trained elephants).
 The two tuskers had raided crops and houses in the area, which is frequented by elephant herds in
search of food, for months.
 As agitated farmers‘ insisted on action, Forest Department personnel got orders to tranquillise
both and move them.
 Chinnathambi was spotted at a place close to where Vinayagan was tranquillised, and the
‗kumkis‘ moved in to corner him close to the Anuvavi Subramaniya Swamy temple.
 The kumkis were made familiar with the terrain and anti-depredation squad watchers kept
monitoring Chinnathambi and were waiting for the target animal to reach a terrain far from
human habitations and slopes to capture it.
 The captured elephant was likely to be released near Top Slip, near Pollachi.

January 27 & 28
General Studies-01
Microplastic fibres found in groundwater
News: Scientists have found micro plastics contaminating a groundwater source that accounts
for 25% of the global drinking water supply.

Findings

 Microplastics are already known to contaminate the world‘s surface waters, yet scientists have
only just begun to explore their presence in groundwater systems.
 Fractured limestone aquifers are a groundwater source that accounts for 25% of the global
drinking water supply.
 The study, identified microplastic fibres, along with a variety of medicines and household
contaminants, in two aquifer systems in the U.S.
 Plastic in the environment breaks down into microscopic particles that can end up in the guts and
gills of marine life, exposing the animals to chemicals in the plastic.
 As the plastics break down, they act like sponges that soak up contaminants and microbes and can
ultimately work their way into our food supply.
 Groundwater flows through the cracks and voids in limestone, sometimes carrying sewage and
runoff from roads, landfills and agricultural areas into the aquifers below.
 The researchers collected 17 groundwater samples from wells and springs 11 from a highly
fractured limestone aquifer near the St Louis metropolitan area and six from an aquifer containing
much smaller fractures in rural northwestern Illinois.
 All but one of the 17 samples contained microplastic particles, with a maximum concentration of
15.2 particles per litre from a spring in the St Louis area.
 The researchers identified a variety of household and personal health contaminants along with the
microplastics, a hint that the fibres may have originated from household septic systems.
 It is estimated that 6.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic waste have been produced since the 1940s,
and 79% of that is now in landfills or the natural environment.

General Studies-02
Pilot project on crop colonies on anvil
News: The Telangana government is gearing up for a major policy initiative in its second term of
making its oft-repeated maxim to make agriculture a festival and profitable to farmers, a reality
in the near future.

Beyond News

 Enthused with the outcome of priority given to irrigation sector and revival of chain of tanks in its
first term to provide water to one crore acres in the next three to four years, the State is now
planning ahead to reap the benefits of expected boost in agricultural production in the coming
years.
 The crop colonies will be created depending on the cropping pattern, soil type, water availability
in various districts and also based on production and consumption matrix locally and at State
level.
 The crop colonies and food processing units will work in tandem so that processed agricultural
produce will get better price for the farmers.
 On the other hand, large-scale food processing units will be set up by the big entrepreneurs and
industry players with high-end technology for processing and to extract various by-products.
 A separate food process policy will be formulated to incentivise those setting up food processing
industries.
 The agriculture department already has a good database of farmers ,the implementation of Rythu
Bandhu and Rythu Bhima schemes. The field staff will enrich the existing database further by
collecting survey number wise information about the types of agriculture and horticulture crops
grown and micro irrigation details.

Sri Lanka’s new India-funded train flagged off

News: A new passenger train, funded by the Indian government, was inaugurated between the
Sri Lankan capital Colombo and the northern city of Kankesanthurai.

Beyond News

 The new Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU), a 13-coach train set, was procured under Indian
concessional financing by Sri Lanka Railways.
 The contract agreement for supply of six DMUs and 10 locomotives to the Sri Lanka Railways
was signed in March 2017.
 The total contract is worth $ 100 million.
 India has so far committed lines of credit worth $ 1.3 billion for the development of Sri Lanka‘s
railways.

Non-communicable diseases top killers in South-East Asia: WHO

News: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) mainly cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory
diseases, diabetes and cancer continue to be the top killers in the South-East Asia Region,
claiming 8.5 million lives each year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Findings

 Containing the NCDs has been listed by the WHO as its health goal for this year along with
reducing mortality related to air pollution and climate change, global influenza pandemic
 One third of these deaths are premature and occur before the age of 70, affecting economically
productive individuals. The four ‗major‘ NCDs are caused, to a large extent, by four modifiable
behavioural risk factors: tobacco use, unhealthy diet, insufficient physical activity and harmful
use of alcohol.
 The NCDs disproportionately affect the poor, impoverish families, and place a growing burden on
health care systems.
 Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease, are collectively
responsible for over 70% of all deaths worldwide, or 41 million people. These include 15 million
people dying prematurely, aged between 30 and 69.
 The paper indicates that eating fibre-rich foods reduces the incidence of coronary heart disease,
stroke, type 2 diabetes and colorectal cancer by 16% to 24%. A higher fibre intake is also
associated with lower bodyweight, systolic blood pressure and total cholesterol when compared
with lower intake.
 Doctors then recommend eat less and enjoy your food by eating slowly, fill half your plate with
fruits and vegetables, avoid oversized portions which causes weight gain, at least half of your
grains should be whole grains, limit consumption of food high in trans fats..

General Studies-03
‘India can’t handle more tigers’
News: While conservation efforts are aimed at increasing the tiger count in India, global experts
and officials in the government suggest that India must also prepare for a new challenge of reaching
the limits of its management capacity.

Beyond News

 Officially, India had 2,226 tigers as of

2014. An ongoing census is expected to
reveal an update to these numbers. But
head of the Global Tiger Forum, said
that India‘s current capacity to host
tigers ranged from 2,500-3,000 tigers.
 Moreover, said another official, 25-35% of India‘s tigers now lived outside protected reserves.
 With dwindling core forest as well as the shrinking of tiger corridors (strips of land that allow
tigers to move unfettered across diverse habitat), there were several challenges alongside the
traditional challenges of poaching and man-animal conflict to India‘s success at tiger
conservation. Recent attempts at translocating tigers to unpopulated reserves, such as Satkosia in
Orissa, have ended badly, with one of the tigers dying.
 Overall, given the low availability of prey in some reserves, this is the capacity that can be
supported. However, there are vast tracts of potential tiger habitat that can be used to improve
prey density, develop tiger corridors and therefore support a much larger population.
 Since 2006, the WII has been tasked with coordinating the tiger estimation exercise. The once-in-
four-years exercise calculated, in 2006, that India had only 1,411 tigers. This rose to 1,706 in
2010 and 2,226 in 2014 on the back of improved conservation measures and new estimation
methods.

India gears up for drone revolution

News: In a major step towards drone revolution in India, Andhra Pradesh became the country‟s
first state to pilot the newly launched „Advanced Drone Operators Toolkit‟, an open source
guide for governments wanting to scale drone delivery.

Beyond News

 The state government announced at the World Economic Forum‘s Davos Summit 2019 that it will
start testing the policy frameworks developed in the new toolkit to enable state-wide drone
delivery operations.
 The open source guide from the WEF, which describes itself as an international organisation for
public-private cooperation, was launched at its annual meeting.
 It has been developed after extensive collaboration with the governments of Rwanda and
Switzerland and leveraging the work of the Drone Innovators Network. It is the first user manual
for governments looking to roll out socially impactful, advanced drone operations.
 Now, governments can learn from the real-world success of leading drone delivery projects in
Africa and Europe to develop their own national oversight. Through comparative analysis of
shared lessons, learned by governments and private players, this toolkit means governments don‘t
have to start from scratch and can begin societally important, socially responsible operations.

Mystery orbits in outer solar system not caused by ‘Planet Nine’:

Study
News: The strange orbits of some objects in the outermost reaches of our solar system are not
shaped by the hypothesised ‗Planet Nine‘, but can be explained
by the gravitational force of small bodies orbiting the Sun
beyond Neptune, scientists say.

Findings

 The alternative explanation to the so-called ‗Planet Nine‘

hypothesis by researchers proposes a disc made up of small
icy bodies with a combined mass as much as ten times that of
Earth.
 It is the first such theory which is able to explain the significant features of the observed orbits
while accounting for the mass and gravity of the other eight planets in our solar system.
 Neptune and the other giant planets gravitationally influence the objects in the Kuiper Belt and
beyond, collectively known as trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), which encircle the Sun on
nearly-circular paths from almost all directions.
 The ‗Planet Nine‘ hypothesis suggests that to account for the unusual orbits of these TNOs, there
would have to be another planet, believed to be about ten times more massive than Earth, lurking
in the distant reaches of the solar system and ‗shepherding‘ the TNOs in the same direction
through the combined effect of its gravity and that of the rest of the solar system.

Protect plantations and forests to minimise conflict

News: Acacia and eucalyptus plantations are notorious for the ecological problems they cause.

 Yet, in southwest Karnataka, these monocultures have become crucial elephant habitats and need
to be protected along with natural forest patches to minimise human elephant conflict, suggests
a study.

Beyond News

 In Karnataka‘s Hassan and

Madikeri, a landscape consisting
of plantations (teak, coffee, acacia
and eucalyptus), paddy fields and
small, fragmented forest patches
human–elephant conflict is high.
Reacting to this, authorities
removed 22 elephants from the
area in 2014. However, elephants
from habitats nearby colonized the
area again.
 They first tracked daily elephant movement (using direct observation and indirect signs such as
dung). With this, they mapped the intensity of use of each village by elephants. This revealed that
the large mammals were present across the landscape during the first year.
 The team found a high concentration of elephant presence in the northern part of the region in the
second year. According to them, the logging of trees in abandoned coffee estates in the central
zone, and the installation of barriers around these estates, clustered elephant presence in the north.
This increased human–elephant conflict here, revealed an analysis of crop damage incidents and
human casualties.
 The team also mapped elephant distribution across different habitat types (such as reserved
forests, agricultural fields and monocultures of acacia and eucalyptus) to study habitat use. During
the day, elephants preferred monoculture refuges (of acacia, teak and eucalyptus) and forest
fragments, and avoided other habitats including coffee and human habitations.
 But during the night, they used coffee plantations and agricultural fields the most. Seasons too
played a role: while elephants used forests and coffee plantations more during the dry season, they
frequented agricultural fields in the wet season.
 Across the years, while the elephants‘ use of monoculture refuges and coffee increased, their use
of forest fragments drastically decreased (from 15% to 2%).
 January 29
General Studies-01
Cold wave continues, Capital records 5.5 degrees
News: Cold wave continues in the Capital with the minimum temperature settling at 5.5 degrees
Celsius which is three degrees below the normal for this time of the year.

Beyond News

 The maximum temperature was 18.9 degrees Celsius which was also three degrees colder that the
normal for this time of the season.
 The Met Department has, meanwhile, forecast gusty winds during the day with cold wave
conditions likely to persist at isolated pockets. Fog is expected in the morning.
 The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to settle between 19 and 5 degrees Celsius
respectively.

General Studies-02
Coastal security squads of fishers soon
News: Coastal security squads comprising seasoned fishermen will be formed shortly to
strengthen coastal security system and improve rescue measures from the lessons learnt in
the aftermath of cyclone Ockhi.

Beyond News

 Members of such coastal squads will be given training in rescue activities at the Goa-based
National Institute of Water Sports.
 The squads are being formed with the primary objective of undertaking emergency rescue
activities in the wake of disasters like Ockhi for which they will be remunerated at a rate to be
fixed by the government.
 Applications have been invited from boat owners having vessels with licence and registration.
 In the case of traditional vessels, applications should be submitted in groups comprising the boat
owner and two workers whereas in the case of mechanised boats, groups comprising captain,
driver and boat owner/representative should apply.
 If the boat owner is not a fisherman with seagoing experience or does not satisfy the eligibility
criteria, then an experienced fisherman could be included in his place.
 Selected fish workers, particularly traditional
workers, venturing beyond 36 nautical miles
will be issued global satellite phones for
communication when in distress.
Ecological festival to discuss threats to Western Ghats
News: Preparations are nearing completion for the Ecological Festival of Western Ghats, to be held
in Coimbatore.

 The three-day national conference aims at building grass root responses for conservation of
the Western Ghats .

Beyond News

 Organised by the Save Western Ghats Movement (SWGM) and supported by conservation groups
and individual enthusiasts, the conference will see participation by around 1,500 delegates from
the six Western Ghats States Tamil Nadu,
Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharastra and
Gujarat and also from rest of the country.
 It would also draw farmers working for the
protection and conservation of the Western
Ghats ecosystems and other ecosystems in
India.
 The conference will revisit and highlight the
present status of the Western Ghats with
reference to the reports of Kasturirangan
Commission and Madhav Gadgil
Commission.
 It will also be a platform to continue discussions with the Government and political parties and
youth organisations to bring them into the conservation movement.

General Studies-03
NASA solar probe begins second orbit of Sun
News: NASA‘s Parker Solar Probe has begun its second orbit of the Sun and is on track for its
closest approach to our star.

Beyond News

 The spacecraft has now begun the second of 24 planned orbits, on track for its second perihelion.
 Parker Solar Probe entered full operational status, with all systems online and operating as
designed. The spacecraft has been delivering data from its instruments to Earth via the Deep
Space Network, and to date more than 17 gigabits of science data has been downloaded.
 The full dataset from the first orbit will be downloaded.
 In preparation for the next encounter, the
spacecraft‘s solid state recorder is being emptied of
files that have already been delivered to Earth.
 In addition, the spacecraft is receiving updated
positional and navigation information and is being
loaded with a new automated command sequence,
which contains about one month‘s worth of
instructions.
 The closest approach will bring the spacecraft to a distance of about 15 million miles from the
Sun just over half the previous close solar approach record of about 27 million miles set by Helios
2 in 1976.
 The spacecraft‘s four instrument suites will help scientists begin to answer outstanding questions
about the Sun‘s fundamental physics including how particles and solar material are accelerated
out into space at such high speeds and why the Sun‘s atmosphere, the corona, is so much hotter
than the surface below.

GM chickens may lay ‘cheaper medicines’

News: Genetically modified chickens that produce human proteins in their eggs can offer a cost-
effective method of manufacturing drugs widely used for treating cancer and other diseases, a study
has found.

Findings

 The research, which initially focused on producing high quality proteins for use in scientific
research, found the drugs work at least as well as the same proteins produced using existing
methods.
 According to researchers, high quantities of the proteins can be recovered from each egg using a
simple purification system and there are no adverse effects on the chickens themselves, which lay
eggs as normal.
 The findings, provide sound evidence for using chickens as a cheap method of producing high
quality drugs for use in research studies and, potentially one day, in patients.
 Eggs are already used for growing viruses that are used as vaccines, such as the flu jab.
 This new approach is different because the therapeutic proteins are encoded in the chicken‘s DNA
and produced as part of the egg white.
 The team have initially focused on two proteins that are essential to the immune system and have
therapeutic potential a human protein called IFNalpha2a, which has powerful antiviral and anti-
cancer effects, and the human and pig versions of a protein called macrophage-CSF, which is
being developed as a therapy that stimulates damaged tissues to repair themselves.
 Just three eggs were enough to produce a clinically relevant dose of the drug.
 Protein-based drugs, which include antibody therapies such as Avastin and Herceptin, are widely
used for treating cancer and other diseases.
 For some of these proteins, the only way to produce them with sufficient quality involves
mammalian cell culture techniques, which are expensive and have low yields.
 Other methods require complex purification systems and additional processing techniques, which
raise costs. The approach is efficient and produces better yields.

High resolution satellite imagery for monitoring forest cover

News: Accelerating its efforts to save forest lands from encroachments, the Telangana State
Government has decided to utilise satellite imagery for continuously monitoring the forest cover.

Beyond News

 The State has accordingly roped in the National Remote Sensing Agency for providing high
resolution satellite images to enable it to keep a tab on encroachments, if any, in the forest areas.
 The NRSA with its set of satellites will regularly monitor the forest cover and report to the State
Government any negative change (decline in the cover on account of encroachments and other
reasons).
 The State has been depending on the biennial reports of the Forest Survey of India that provide
details of change in the vegetation cover State-wise till recently, but two years is too long a period
in view of the utmost priority accorded for preservation of forest cover by Chief Minister.
 Accordingly, the project has been taken up on experimental basis in Bhadradri-Kothagudem and
Bhupalpally districts, known for vast extent of forest lands.
 Based on the results of the pilot project, the Government will extend the project to all districts
with forest cover subsequently. Though the department initially explored options for deploying
high resolution satellite imagery with 1m resolution available, it was decided against these
technologies owing to ―lot of costs‖ involved in it.
 The government had decided to rope in the NRSA as it had satellites that too had capabilities of
giving out high resolution images.

January 30
General Studies-01
70% of divisions receive lesser rainfall than average in 2018
News: Of the 36 meteorological divisions in India, 25 (70%) received less rain during the South
West monsoon in 2018 than the average precipitation in the last 118 years.

 There is wide variation in the average rainfall across geographical divisions. The graphic below
compares South West Monsoon rainfall data for all divisions historically to find where their
measures for 2016, 2017 and 2018 are placed.

Findings

 Rayalaseema had its fourth worst monsoon in 2018 (252 mm rain), since 1901, and 95% of
mandals in the region were declared drought-hit
 In June & July 2018, it rained above par in Marathwada. But, it had the lowest rainfall for any
September (31 mm) since 1901, leading to crop failure; 64 tehsils were declared drought-hit in
October 2018
 Saurashtra & Kutch (316 mm) and the rest of Gujarat (696 mm) divisions had 32% and 21%
lower rainfall respectively in 2018 than the average. Close
to 3,300 villages were declared droughthit in Dec. 2018
 Jharkhand (789 mm) and Bihar (771 mm) had their fifth
and tenth lowest monsoon rains respectively since 1901.
More than 40% blocks in both States were declared
drought-hit
 Karnataka‘s northern division had its 13th worst monsoon
since 1901. 88.6% area of the State was declared drought-
hit, as the other two divisions, coastal and south, had
marginally better monsoons than the average.
The Northeast region had a poor monsoon season. Arunachal Pradesh received 1,191 mm during the
2018 monsoon, its seventh worst season since 1901.

Polar vortex freezes U.S. Midwest, temperature in Chicago hits

sub-zero
News: A blast of Arctic air from the polar vortex brought dangerous, bone-chilling cold to a
wide swath of the United States, stretching from the Dakotas through Maine, with snow expected as
far south as Alabama and Georgia.

Beyond News

 The brutal blast known as the polar vortex is a stream of cold air that spins around the
stratosphere over the North Pole, but whose current has been disrupted and is now pushing
south into the United States.
 According to the National Weather Service, the coldest recorded temperature in Chicago was -
27°F (-33°C) on Jan. 20, 1985.

General Studies-02
UAE’s ties with India not dependent on third parties: envoy
News: The United Arab Emirates‟ relationship with India is not dependent on any third party,
Ambassador asserted.

Beyond News

 Last month, Pakistan announced that the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development of UAE would give it
$3 billion to help the country‘s cash-strapped economy.
 On the long-pending issue of upgradation of the bilateral air services agreement, there were
―some hiccups‖ due to lobbying by some Indian carriers. Citing the understanding reached
between the two countries during External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj‘s visit to the UAE last
month, he, however, expressed confidence that a pact would be concluded ―very soon.‖
 There are 1,068 flights a week between all Indian airports and UAE airports with more than
1,68,000 seats per week.
 The agreement says that if occupancy reaches 85% then it‘s time to revise the agreement. All
UAE carriers have reached 100% occupancy and Indian carriers over 90% occupancy.

139 polluted cities not on clean air plan: report

News: There are 139 Indian cities that breach air pollution standards but are not included in
the Centre‟s National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), says a report by Greenpeace.

Findings

 The NCAP was launched by the government earlier this month and
is a ₹300 crore initiative to reduce particulate matter (PM) pollution
by 20-30% in at least 102 cities by 2024. Airpocalypse III, as the
Greenpeace report is titled, analyses air pollution data of 313 cities
and towns for the year 2017.
 Of these 313 cities, 241 (77%) had PM10 levels beyond the National Ambient Air Quality
Standards (NAAQS). These specify upper limits to a range of airborne chemicals and compounds.
 While 102 of these cities were included in the NCAP, the remaining 139 cities were left out.
 That‘s because, say the authors of the report, the government‘s list of 102 cities relied on average
pollution data until 2015, whereas Airpocalypse III used data updated up to 2017.
 Even if the NCAP were to able to reduce pollution by 30% by 2024, 153 cities would still be left
with pollution levels exceeding the NAAQS.
 Of the 139 cities that have not been included in the non-attainment list under the NCAP, there are
several cities that have a population of more than 1 million, and PM levels (recorded in 2017)
above NAAQS.
 The 102 cities, identified as hotspots of pollution, were asked to submit a plan for how they would
address the problem. Broadly, the plans include increasing the number of monitoring stations,
providing technology support, conducting source apportionment studies, and strengthening
enforcement.
 As part of the NCAP, cities have been given a specified number of days to implement specific
measures such as ―ensuring roads are pothole-free to improve traffic flow and thereby reduce
dust‖ (within 60 days) or ―ensuring strict action against unauthorised brick kilns‖ (within 30
days). It doesn‘t specify an exact date for when these obligations kick in.
 The World Health Organisation‘s database on air pollution over the years has listed Tier I and
Tier II Indian cities as some of the most polluted places in the world. In 2018, 14 of the world‘s
15 most polluted cities were in India. A study ranked India as No.1 on premature mortality and
deaths from air pollution.

No Indo-Nepal pact on tigers yet

News: Though India and Nepal had agreed to collaborate on conducting the tiger census in
their countries in 2018, they‘ve yet to sign an agreement on sharing detailed assessments of the
numbers.

 With India‘s census still ongoing, a senior official from Nepal said that they would not share data
until India too shared its numbers.

Beyond News

 Nepal already publicised the results of its tiger census last September 235 and this represents an
18% rise from the 198 tigers in 2013.
 However, India needs details on the locations of these tigers, which are captured via camera traps,
to be sure that some tigers found on the border are not double-counted.
 Prior to beginning its census India had also signed agreements with Bhutan and Bangladesh
regarding sharing tiger numbers and conducting surveys using a common methodology. Both
these countries had already shared data with India.
 Officially, India had 2,226 tigers as of 2014. An ongoing census
is expected to reveal an update to these numbers. 25-35% of
India‘s tigers now lived outside protected reserves.
 The Chitwan National Park in Chitwan and Parsa Wildlife
Reserve of Nepal are adjacent to the Balmiki Tiger Reserve in
Bihar. Likewise, Nepal‘s Bardiya National Park adjoins India‘s
Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, while the Shuklaphant National
Park in Nepal adjoins India‘s Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.
 Commissioned by the Union Environment Ministry‘s National Tiger Conservation Authority, the
₹10 crore tiger census this year involves 40,000 forest guards traversing 4,00,000 sq. km. of
forests; wildlife biologists independently assessing them; approximately a year‘s duration of field
work; 14,000 camera traps; and coordination with 18 States.
 After States with tiger survey and compile data, they must send it to institutions such as the
Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun which analyses the numbers. The results are expected to be
made public in May.

General Studies-03
Treatment protocol for captive elephants
News: Concerned over the high number of deaths of captive elephants, the Forest Department
has introduced a strict treatment protocol to address inadequacies in their handling.

Beyond News

 The findings of an expert committee of veterinarians, has highlighted prolonged malnutrition,

faulty feeding practices, overwork, and inadequate rest as the prime reasons behind the trend. The
physiological and psychological stress caused to the
animals has apparently led to many diseases, resulting in
the deaths.
 The proposed measures include undertaking periodic
health evaluation of the elephants. A programme for long-
term health monitoring with a complete haematological
and serum biochemistry analysis is mooted to ascertain the
exact health status of the elephants.
 The Assistant Conservators of Forests (Social Forestry)
have been entrusted with monitoring the compliance of the
directive. The Conservator of Forests (Social Forestry)
must submit quarterly reports of the inspections.
 It is found that the treatments are being carried out without any support from clinical pathological
tests or expert panel opinion. Modern diagnostic tests are seldom conducted.
 The expert panel also states that major physical injuries to captive elephants usually occur during
their musth period owing to unscientific tethering practices that hamper their natural movement.
Elephant owners have been directed to construct musth enclosures to address the problem.

January 31
from General Studies-02
India must sign NPT to gain entry into NSG, says China
News: India must sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to gain entry into the Nuclear Suppliers
Group, China said, asserting that ―patient negotiations‖ were required for New Delhi‘s admission
into the group as there is no precedent for the inclusion of non-NPT countries.
Beyond News

 China has been opposing India‟s entry into the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
on the ground that India is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), though the other
P5 members, including the US and Russia backed its case based on New Delhi‘s non-proliferation
record.
 China, France, Russia, Britain and the US the permanent members of the UNSC also known as P5
countries have concluded their two meetings in Beijing to discuss issues related to nuclear
disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
 After India applied for the NSG membership, Pakistan too applied for the same following which
China, a close ally of Islamabad, called for a two-step approach which states that NSG members
first need to arrive at a set of principles for the admission of non-NPT states into the group and
then move forward discussions of specific cases.
 The NSG is a group of nuclear supplier countries that seeks to contribute to the non-proliferation
of nuclear weapons through the implementation of guidelines for nuclear and nuclear-related
exports.

India not to extend anti-dumping duty on Chinese paracetamol

News: The government will not extend anti-dumping duty on imports of Chinese paracetamol,
used in medicines, as the domestic industry has failed to provide evidence that the expiry of the levy
would result in dumping.

 After concluding its probe, the Commerce Ministry‘s investigation arm for dumping of goods,
DGTR, has said that it does not recommend continuation of the anti-dumping duty on the imports
of paracetamol from China.

Govt clears ₹40,000 crore project to construct six submarines

News: In a major decision, the Defence Ministry approved indigenous construction of six
submarines for the Indian Navy at a cost of over ₹40,000 crore.

Beyond News

 This was decided at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the Ministry‘s highest
decision-making body on procurement.
 The DAC, also approved acquisition of approximately 5,000 Milan anti-tank guided missiles for
the Army.
 The project to construct the six submarines will be implemented under the strategic partnership
model which provides for roping in private firm to build select military platforms in India in
partnership with foreign defence manufacturers.
 It will be the second project to be implemented under the strategic partnership model. The first
project to get government‘s nod for implementation under the new model was acquisition of 111
utility helicopters for the Navy at a cost of over ₹21,000 crore.
 The DAC in a landmark decision on Thursday approved indigenous construction of six
submarines for the Indian Navy at a cost of over ₹40,000 crore.
 Construction of six submarines under Project 75 (I) will provide a major boost to the existing
submarine design and manufacturing eco-system in India through transfer of design and
equipment technology as well as a necessary skill sets.
 General Studies-03
RBI lifts lending curbs on Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra
and Oriental Bank of Commerce
News: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) removed three State-owned banks from its weak-bank
watch list, a move that will lift lending restrictions on them.

Beyond News

 It has been decided that Bank of India [BoI] and Bank of Maharashtra [BoM] which meet
the regulatory norms including Capital Conservation Buffer [CCB] and have Net NPAs
[non-performing assets] of less than 6% as per third quarter results, are taken out of the
PCA [prompt corrective action] framework subject to certain conditions and continuous
monitoring.
 Hence, it has been decided to remove the restrictions placed on Oriental Bank of
Commerce (OBC) under PCA framework, subject to certain conditions and close
monitoring.

GDP growth rate for 2017-18 revised upwards to 7.2% from 6.7%
News: The government revised the economic growth rate upwards to 7.2% for 2017-18 from
the 6.7% estimated earlier.

Beyond News

 Real GDP or GDP at constant (2011-12) prices for 2017-18 and 2016-17 stand at ₹131.80
lakh crore and ₹122.98 lakh crore, respectively, showing growth of 7.2% during 2017-18
and 8.2% during 2016-17.
 The First Revised Estimates for 2017-18 have been compiled using industry-
wise/institution-wise detailed information instead of using the benchmark-indicator
method employed at the time of release of Provisional Estimates on 31st May, 2018.
 The CSO has also released the Second Revised Estimates of National Income,
Consumption Expenditure, Saving and Capital Formation for 2016-17.
 During 2017-18, the growth rates of primary (comprising agriculture, forestry, fishing
and mining and quarrying), secondary (comprising manufacturing, electricity, gas, water
supply and other utility services, and construction) and tertiary (services) sectors have
been estimated as 5%, 6% and 8.1 per cent as against a growth of 6.8%, 7.5% and 8.4%,
respectively, in the previous year.
Fighting the war against
pollution
News: If India reduces particulate pollution
by 25 per cent in five years, residents
breathing the most polluted air in New Delhi
and parts of Uttar Pradesh could live almost
three years longer, a study said.

 The study , was conducted by the Air Quality

Life Index (AQLI), which translates particulate air pollution into its impact on life
expectancy.

Findings

 The payoffs from the successful implementation of the National Clean Air Programme
(NCAP) could be substantial with people in the most polluted areas like Delhi living almost
three years longer.
 The AQLI study revealed that if India reduced particulate pollution by 25 per cent, people in
Kanpur would also live 2.4 years longer and, in Kolkata for 1.1 years more.
 The residents living in the 102 cities singled out by the NCAP for having higher pollution
levels than the national average would add 1.4 years to their lives.
 The AQLI is rooted in recent research that quantifies the causal relationship between long-
term human exposure to air pollution and life expectancy.